human evolution
Sign in to saveevolutionary process leading up to the appearance of anatomically modern humans
AI overview
Human evolution is the long biological process through which modern humans developed from earlier primate ancestors over millions of years. Understanding this process matters because it explains how our species came to be and reveals our connection to other living organisms.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
A phylogenic model depicts (from lower right) Homo erectus spreading from Africa to Eurasia around 1.8 millions of years ago. Its descendant H. heidelbergensis originated Denisovans, Neanderthals, and H. sapiens (humans) around 350,000 years ago.
Homo sapiens is a distinct species of the hominid family of primates, which includes all the great apes. Over their evolutionary history, humans gradually developed traits such as bipedalism, dexterity, and complex language. Modern humans interbred with archaic humans, indicating that their evolution was not linear but weblike. The study of the origins of humans involves several scientific disciplines, including physical and evolutionary anthropology, paleontology, and genetics; the field is also known by the terms anthropogeny, anthropogenesis, and anthropogony—with the latter two sometimes used to refer to the related subject of hominization.