OVERVIEW OF PROJECT

Human evolution: Dryopithecus, Australopithecus, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis,

Cromagnon man and Homo sapiens, differences between apes and man.

Evolution of man-brief idea of ancestors leading to man of today: comparison and homology
in chromosomes of apes and man.

THE FIRST HUMAN FOSSIL EVIDENCE

Found in Java, Indonesia.Homo erectus skull. Known as Java Man, this early human species
was identified based on fossil evidence first found in 1891 in archaeological sites along the
Solo River, East Java, Indonesia. This specimen is the Sangiran 17 skull, found in 1969 in the
Sangiran Cave, Central Java. It has been dated to between 13 and 1 million years ago,
though estimates vary.

EUGENE DUBOIS (1858-1940)

⚫ In September 1890, his workers found a human, or human-like, fossil at Koedoeng
Broeboes. This consisted of the right side of the chin of a lower jaw and three attached
teeth.

⚫ In August 1891 he found a primate molar tooth. Two months later and one meter away
was found an intact skullcap, the fossil which would be known as Java Man.
In August 1892, a third primate fossil, an almost complete left thigh bone, was found
between 10 and 15 meters away from the skullcap.
 HUMAN EVOLUTION- WHEN AND WHERE.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN EVOLUTION

⚫ Increased aridity of climate.
⚫ Dwindling of forests and replacement by grasslands
⚫ Reduction in number of trees.

EARLY HUMAN ANCESTORS

Dryopithecus
The fossils were discovered from rocks of Miocene age (20 mya). These resembled the great
apes. Their arms and legs were of equal length. They had semi-erect posture, large canines,
and without brow ridges
Australopithecus (African ape man)

Two million years ago fossil baby skull called Tuang baby was discovered by Raymond Dart
and named it (Australopithecus africanus).
Australopithecus were about 150cm and its skull was like that was like that of modern apes
with cranial capacity of 600cc. They lived during Pliocene and the Pleistocene in Africa.
Donald Johanson discovered another species of Australopithecus fossil "Lucy" in 1976

Simian characters:
1. Small in size, average height-4feet
2. Face prognathous.
3. Chin absent, forehead low.
4. Bulge of occipital region small.
5. Eyebrow ridges projected over the eyes.
6. Cranial capacity about 600 cc

Human characters:
1. Walked completely straight
2. Vertebral column with distinct lumbar Curve.
3. Pelvis broad and basin like.
4. Teeth man-like with dental arch in the form of parabola.
5. Simian gap between incisors and canine absent.
6. Canines man-like and did not project beyond the level of other teeth

Advanced Australopithecus - Homo habilis

Louis Leakey discovered the fossils of Homo habilis or the
handy man in 1960.
These were found in rocks 1.6 to 1.8 million years old in
east Africa. They were slightly more advanced than
Australopithecus.
Characters of Homo habilis
1. They were 120-150cm tall.
2. They had cranial capacity of 730cc.
3. They had human like body with an ape like head.
4. They walked erect with bipedal gait.
They lived in caves were herbivores and used tools of stones to dig out tubers and led
community life. They are regarded as the last of the Australopithecus. They originated about
3.5 million years ago

Homo erectus erectus (Java ape man)

Eugene Dubois discovered the fossil, in 1891. Dubois named the fossils as Pithecanthropus
erectus or Java ape-man. Later, Mayer (1950) renamed it as Homo erectus. They lived
1.7million years ago (Pleistocene) on the banks of Solo River in Java
Characters.
1. They stood upright to a height of 150cms.
2. They had receding forehead with prominent brow Ridges
3. The jaws were prognathous without a distinct chin.
4. The cranial capacity was 900ce.
They were hunters and food gatherers, used stone tools for
hunting, lived in caves, and learned the use of fire for
cooking and used animal skin for clothing themselves and
probably used sign language.

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neanderthal man)

C. Fuhirott discovered fossil in 1856. They arose about 1,00,000 years ago and became
extinct 25,000 years ago.
Characters-
⚫ Thick skull bones.
⚫ Low slanting forehead.
⚫ Strong lower jaw muscles and no chin.
⚫ Short of stature 1.5 to 1.6m height. Semi-crect stooping
posture.
⚫ Cranial capacity of 1450cc
They used flint tools and animal skin for clothing. They buried the dead and performed
ceremonies and constructed dwelling structure.

Homo sapiens fossilis (early modern man or Cro-Magnon man)

Mac Gregor discovered fossil in 1868 from the caves of northwest Italy. They originated
50,000 years ago and existed for about 30,000 years. They became extinct 10-20 thousand
years ago.
Characters-
⚫ They were about 1.8m tall.
⚫ They had perfect posture.
⚫ The cranial capacity was 1660 cc.
⚫ They are prominent chin and narrow elevated
nose.
⚫ Face was prognathous.
They were cave dwellers and hunters; they buried the dead and could make paint. They
learnt to shape stones and bones into excellent tools. They had religious beliefs and burial
customs. They developed the Paleolithic culture.

Homo sapiens sapiens (Modern man)

It is the living modern man, evolved 25 thousand
years ago. Their evolution includes cultural
evolution rather than anatomical evolution. He
learned to cultivate plants and domesticate
animals. Modern man is associated with Neolithic
culture. They settled down near lakes and ocean
shores to catch fishes, and also started
domesticating plants and animals.
The modern man is known to have appeared
around the Caspian Sea and evolved into following
races-Negroid- Africa and Malaysia. Caucasian-
Europe and North America. Mongoloids- China,
Siberia and Japan.
CHARACTERS THAT DIFFERENTIATE APES AND HUMANS
1. Erect posture: Bend posture to straight or erect posture.

2.Bipedalism: Walking on all four limbs to walking on two legs.

3. Supraorbital ridge reduction: Apes have prominent supra-orbital ridge.

4. Prognathous to orthognathous

5.Opposable thumb- that helps in grasping.

6. Shape of the jaw

OTHER TRENDS IN HUMAN EVOLUTION
⚫ Development of distinct lumbar curve
⚫ Development of broad pelvic bones
⚫ Acetabular cavities shifted inside, to give straight posture.
⚫ Increase in size of cranial cavity
⚫ Flattening of face
⚫ Straightening of forehead
⚫ Narrowing of nose
⚫ Thinning of jaw bones
⚫ Reduction in jaw musculature
⚫ Reduction in size of canines
⚫ Loss of tail
⚫ Articulated speech
CULTURAL EVOLUTION IN MAN
We often associate culture with the tools and artifacts early hominids produce. These are in fact an
expression of their culture, but more fundamentally represent ideas that were shared between
peoples.

Cultural and biological evolution have influenced each other. Selection for a bipedal lifestyle
(biological evolution) freed up the hands making later cultural developments possible. Likewise. the
development of early tools (cultural evolution) resulted in an improved diet, which in turn allowed
for the selection (biological evolution) of a larger brain. This in turn aided the further development
of tools and so on and so forth. Cultural and biological evolution have fuelled each- other resulting in
the fairly rapid evolution of Humans with large brains and sophisticated technologies.

Some of the earliest stone tool may look fairly similar, however, if more closely examined it

becomes apparent that they clearly increase in complexity. Both the length of the cutting edge as
well as the total number of blows needed to produce the tool increases. The number of blows
needed to produce a tool represents the ingenuity needed to plan or foresee what the stone will
become. Further developments in the materials used and the techniques used to work them
resulted in even more sophisticated tools and a much greater variety of tools (larger tool kits). More
complex tools would have placed a greater demand on the brain, selecting for those members with
increased intelligence. This in turn would have fuelled the evolutionary shift towards a larger brain.
As tools became more and more complex, the ability to communicate ideas and tool making
techniques would also have become more and more important. This ability to share ideas is what
defines cultural evolution, and intrinsic to our cultural evolution was the development of language
and the associated areas of the brain. This may help explain both the relatively rapid expansion of
the brain and the rapid cultural developments observed in our most recent ancestors.
HOMOLOGY IN CHROMOSOMES OF MAN AND APE

Modern man showed more of cultural evolution than anatomical evolution. For improved
hunting, good tools were produced, later domestication of plants and animals led to the
agricultural revolution and finally the latest industrial and scientific revolution.
The diploid chromosome number in man is 46 and that in apes (chimpanzee, gorilla and
orangutan are 48. Comparing the banding technique, the pattern is similar in chromosome
number 3 and 6. The nucleotide sequence between the DNA molecules is also similar. The
difference between the sequence in man and chimpanzee is only 2.5%.

EVIDENCES IN SUPPORT OF COMMON ANCESTORS

1. Anatomical: These include the various morphological similarities posture, teeth.

locomotion etc. Vestigial organs present in humans are also present in apes.

2. Physiological: blood groups, menstrual cycle in female (no, of days same). gestation
period (270-90 humans, 265-80-gorilla and 210-52 chimpanzee)

3. Embryological: eggs and sperms are similar, mammae in six-week-old human embryo,
hairs on the embryos
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.creationism.org/books/TaylorinMindsMen/Taylor MMhmEugeneDuboisM.ins

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/hominids/files/2012/09/picresized 1347204858
Pithecanthropus erectus.jpg

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18666lebis5bling/original.ing

http://cdno.cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/20070717 bipedalism.ips

http://listcience.com/images/1/000/025/831/02/human-evolution.ips

http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/dryopithecus.jpg

http://www.metaprimate.com/IMG/Australopithecus-afarensis.jpg

2. http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/170967/350wm/E4380068-Homo habilis
making stone tool-

http://www.metaprimate.com/ancestral-species/

http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/world/w cavemen.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m44bc6PB1rwalled 400 ing

http://www.detectingdesign.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/lava-Man-2log
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this bonafide project work on THE
HUMAN EVOLUTION has been done by SHIREEN
SABAHAT QUADRI, Board Roll No.-
D.A.V PUBLIC SCHOOL, UNIT 8 under my supervision
and submitted to the AISSCE practical examination
conducted by the CBSE in the academic year 2023-
2024.
This work has been carried out by her and was been
complemented under my guidance and supervision.

Signature of the Teacher

(Mrs. Sanjukta Das)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special gratitude to my
teacher Mrs. Sanjukta Das who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic
"THE HUMAN EVOLUTION" and also helped me in
doing a lot of research on this project. I came to know
about so many things for which I am very thankful to
him. I would also like to extend my gratitude towards
our laboratory assistant Mr. Sudhakar Sahoo for his
cooperation and timely support for completion of my
project work.
Secondly, I would like to thank my parents and friends
who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the
limited time, frame.

Name- SHIREEN SABAHAT QUADRI

Class-XII-B Roll-
 Content
1. Certificate
2. Acknowledgement
3. Overview of project
4. The first human Fossil evidence
5. Eugene Dubois
6. Human Evolution - When and Where
7. Factors responsible for human evolution
8. Early Human Ancestors
I) Dryopithecus
II) Australopithecus
III) Homo habillus
IV) Home erectus
V) Java Man - Homo neanderthalensis
VI) Homo sapiens
9) Characters that differentiate Apes and Humans
10) Other trends in human evolution
11) Cultural evolution in man
12) Evidences in support of common ancestors
13) Bibliography