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Five facts about Neanderthals

01: Neanderthals evolved in EuropÄ™ around 350,000 years ago and died out around 30,000 years ago.

02: Archeologists have found fossils of morÄ™ than 275 Neanderthals at 70 different sites in EuropÄ™ and Asia.

03: Neanderthals had bigger brains—and bigger noses!—than us.

04: Neanderthal bodies were short and stocky—ideaÅ‚ for ice-age conditions.

05: Could Neanderthals talk? Scientists are still arguing about that!

Tool use is not uniÄ…ue to modern humans. Other lwing hominids— gorillas and chimps—use and make tools, too. This chimpanzee is using a stick to dig out termites.

Where did the

earliest humans come from?

Humans are part of a bigger family, called the hominids, that evolved in Africa. Chimps, gorillas, and other great apes are hominids, too. Around seven million years ago, humans split from the apes. Our species—Homo sapiens—is around 200,000 years old.

Using tools

Ardipithecus ramidus {Ardi)

Projecting face; thumblike big toes

,_ht Their feet

-norÄ™ flexib'e tbey already in the i°^ot-

Tell me morÄ™: homlnln family tree

Fossils show that humans evolved around seven million years ago (mya). Our fossil history was complicated, and many hominin species came and went over the years.

What about me?

hominw (tmman) P _s    peen

very different.

Homo

rudolfensis

Large,

rounded skuli

1.8 mya-600,000 ya

V >

4.1-2.8 mya

Australopithecus

afarensis

Chimp-size; morÄ™ bipedal than Ardi

Arrows indicate possible (sometimes disputed) paths of evolution from one hominin species to another.

Homo erg a ster

Tali, long legged; a good runner

2.2-1.6 mya Homo habilis

Perhaps the first I tool user

3.3-2 mya

Australopithecus

africanus

• Long armed; strong cheek teeth

li-

2.5-1.2 mya

Paranthropus boisei Massive, thick teeth and strong jaws

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