Who were our first ancestors?

Humans belong to a group of mammals called primates. It includes apes, monkeys and several much smaller animals such as lemurs and bush babies. As much as 50 million years ago, back in the Eocene Period, there were traces of primate-like animals. They were small and looked rather like squirrels, but their eyes faced forwards like modern monkeys and they had grasping hands and feet.

These animals evolved into monkey-like animals, but remains of primates are scarce and the fossil record contains many gaps. Those few remains that have been found are of tree-living monkeys that are very similar to monkeys living today.

The early ancestors of humans were called hominids, and they appear to have evolved in Africa where many of their remains have been discovered.

The earliest remains that were probably our ancestors are those of human-like apes called Australopithecus, which date back more than three million years. These creatures walked erect and looked similar to us, but their brain capacity was small. Several forms of Australopithecus heve been found. All of them were much shorter than modern humans, and their teeth show that they have a vegetarian diet.

The first true humans appeared around two million years ago in Africa. It has been named Homo habilis (handy man) because it used primitive stone tools. It was still rather ape-like, however, and was soon replaced by Homo erectus, which looked very much like us. It had a much heavier jaw, bony ridges over the eyes and a sloped-back forehead. Homo erectus appeared about 1.6 million years ago. Only a few incomplete fossils of these early humans have been found, but their tools have been discovered in large numbers.