HOMININ ANCESTOR CHART

Hominin Ancestor Chart

Hominin Ancestor Chart

Fossil and genetic evidence indicates that hominins emerged in Africa between 7 million and 5 million years ago (Mya) in the late Miocene. The earliest fossils that have been clearly identified as hominin date to 4.4 Mya. Earlier, seemingly hominin remains have been found dating from 6.0-5.8 Mya, although their relationship to the hominin or chimpanzee lines remains controversial given the lack of fossil remains of the apes that would have given rise to them. Between the earliest hominin and fossil apes dated to about 9.0 Mya, the African hominoid fossil record does not exist. However, genetic evidence allows us to establish who, among living apes, are our closest relatives, as well as to confirm the dates established from fossils. In fact, these very early hominin fossils have been discovered only in the last few years, and it has been on the basis of genetic evidence that the age of divergence between apes and hominins has been established (Gamble, 2004).

The genetic comparison of apes and humans, with a view towards establishing their pattern of relationships, was pioneered by Sarich and Wilson in the late 1970s. These comparisons, now based on the study of a large number of different genes and gene products, established three key facts: first, that the African apes form a clade within the great apes; second, that within that clade, chimpanzees and humans are more closely related to each other than either is to the gorillas; and third, that on the basis of a molecular clock, hominins and chimpanzees diverged from each other between 7 Mya and 5 Mya. These results have had a major impact on hominoid systematics, as well as establishing a chronological and ancestral framework for the study of hominin origins.

However, controversy exists as to who ...