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Homo
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
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Ledi-Geraru jawbone Diagram tracing the evolutionary split of humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas over the past 12 million years, with skull illustrations for key hominin species and African great apes, and branching lines showing divergence points. Chart displaying the ages and locations of major Homo sapiens and related fossil finds across Africa, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with colored bars representing the time spans of each archaeological site over the past 600,000 years. A diagram showing the tentative evolutionary relationships among hominid species over the past four million years, with skull images and labeled species names connected by solid and dotted lines to indicate proposed evolutionary pathways. A timeline chart showing the evolution of hominins over the past 4 million years, with colored bars representing different Australopithecus and Homo species diverging over time, ending with Homo sapiens at present.
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Lion (panthera leo)
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Homo: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
    Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: PNAS - Dental data challenge the ubiquitous presence of Homo in the Cradle of Humankind. Oct 13, 2026
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Evolution of Homo in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Nov 07, 2025
Add new Web site: OpenStax - Introduction to Anthropology - Introduction. Jul 26, 2025
Add new Web site: PNAS - Dental data challenge the ubiquitous presence of Homo in the Cradle of Humankind. Jun 12, 2025
Add new Web site: DigitalCommons at URI - Origin of the Genus Homo (PDF). Mar 18, 2025
Add new Web site: Open Washington Pressbooks - Biological Anthropology: A Brief Introduction - Evolution of the genus Homo. Jan 15, 2025
Add new Web site: The British Academy - �Is Homo Defined by Culture?�. Nov 19, 2024
Add new Web site: The University of Chicago Press Journals - Current Anthropology - Origins and Evolution of Genus Homo. Sep 13, 2024
Add new Web site: The Royal Society Publishing - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - From Australopithecus to Homo: the transition that wasn't? Aug 01, 2024
Add new Web site: BMC - Evolution: Education and Outreach - Origin of the Genus Homo. Jun 21, 2024
Add new Web site: Boise State Pressbooks - Introduction to Evolution and Human Behavior - The Genus Homo. Feb 19, 2024
Add new Web site: Academia - Defining the genus Homo. Dec 28, 2023
Add new Web site: University of Hawaii pressbooks - Early Members of the Genus Homo. Aug 11, 2023
Add new Web site: Social Sci LibreTexts - Homo Genus. Oct 27, 2022
Deleted "which may be the oldest known member of the genus." Jan 09, 2019
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Phylogeny of early Australopithecus: new fossil evidence from the Woranso-Mille (central Afar, Ethiopia). Sep 19, 2018
Text updated to include a description of the species Homo naledi. Sep 10, 2015
Text added describing the significance of 3.3-million-year-old tools found at the Lomekwi 3 site in Kenya. May 26, 2015
Photo of Ledi-Geraru jawbone added. Mar 18, 2015
Text added noting the discovery of the oldest fossil attributed to Homo. Mar 05, 2015
Add new Web site: Columbia University - The Genus Homo. Jul 15, 2011
Added new Web site: Smithsonian Institution Human Origins Program - The Origin of the Genus Homo. Feb 08, 2007
Added new Web site: Human Evolution. Jun 06, 2006
Added new Web site: Human Evolution. Jun 06, 2006
Article revised. Mar 16, 2006
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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