We still have a lot to learn about our ancestors and relatives, who lived tens of thousands to millions of years ago. Fossil footprints, bones from previously unknown Homo species and ancient skulls that shed light on the evolution of Homo brains were some of the clues researchers investigated in 2011.
Scientists made 10 amazing discoveries in the year 2021.
10 things we learned about our human ancestors in 2020.
1. Humans had ape-like brains.
The skulls from Dmanisi, Georgia, were dated to between 1.85 million and 1.77 million years ago. M. Ponce de Len is the author. Zollikofer is from the University of Zurich.
Humans are pretty smart today, but they weren't always that smart. A study in the journal Science found that Homo had ape-like brains, but they were not developed until 1.7 million to 1.5 million years ago. It took more than 1 million years for the Homo species to evolve into advanced brains.
Researchers discovered this by analyzing the skulls of ancient and modern humans, as well as the great apes. It took humans a long time to develop the brain's frontal cortex, which processes complex cognitive tasks.
The first Homo species left Africa with ape-like brains.
2. Neanderthals might be closer to us than a dragon man.
The illustration shows what a dragon man might have looked like. Credit: Chuang Zhao
The journal The Innovation published the name Homo longi, or "Dragon man," in June, after an ancient human skull was found in China. Neanderthals were thought to be our closest relatives, but this species might be our closest relative. The largest Homo skull on record is the one that belonged to a man who died at 50.
The finding is controversial. Three experts in human evolution were not involved in the study and wondered if Dragon man really is a Denisovan human.
The new human species 'Dragon man' may be our closest relative.
3. The skull of an ancient child of darkness was found.
Leti's skull is in the palm of a modern human. The image is from Wits University.
How did the remains of a young Homo naledi child end up in South Africa? Your guess is as good as ours. The skull of a young child was found in a remote part of a cave system, which may have been an intentional burial.
The remains of more than two dozen H. naledi individuals have been found in the cave system over the last four years. The individuals have revealed that H. naledi was about 9 inches tall and weighed between 88 and 123 pounds.
The 'Child of Darkness' human ancestor was found in a narrow cave passageway.
4. Meet a direct human descendant.
During the Middle Pleistocene, the species Homo bodoensis lived in Africa. The image is from Ettore Mazza.
A new analysis of a 600,000-year-old skull has revealed a new human species, Homo bodoensis. The discovery may help to understand how human ancestors moved across the planet.
Researchers did more than simply rediscover the skull. They did a systematic review of human fossils from 774,000 to 129,000 years ago. There was a pile of evidence that showed the species was problematic. Neanderthals may be reclassified as H. heidelbergensis. A study published in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues News and Reviews states that further study of Homo individuals from this time period may reveal previously unknown species.
The direct ancestors of modern humans may be newly named human species.
5. The human burial in Indonesia has a vanished lineage.
The Toalean woman's skull and jaw were found in a cave in Indonesia. The Hasanuddin University has an image credit.
Sometimes ancient human lines don't leave any traces. The 7,200-year-old burial in Indonesia revealed a previously unknown human line that died out at some point. The ancient woman's remains were analysed and it was found that she is a distant relative of the Indigenous people on the islands of New Guinea and the western Pacific.
The Denisovans are an archaic human species and this woman had a lot of their genes. The researchers said in the study that Indonesia and the surrounding islands may have been a meeting point for modern humans and Denisovans.
Ancient remains found in Indonesia are from a vanished human line.
6. 78,000 years ago, the oldest deliberate human burial happened in Africa.
The Panga ya Saidi cave is home to the oldest Homo sapiens burial in Africa. The image was taken by Jorge Gonzlez and Elena Santos.
A young child was laid to rest in a cave in Africa about 78,000 years ago, making it the oldest burial on record. The 3-year-old child, nicknamed "Mtoto," which is Swahili for "child," was laid curled on their side as if they were sleeping. The researchers found that Mtoto's head may have been placed on a cushion.
Mtoto's remains are believed to be the earliest deliberate human burial known in Africa, and they were found in Europe and the Middle East.
The oldest deliberate burial of a human in Africa was discovered.
7. Huge genome analysis shows the importance of the Arabian Peninsula.
Scientists have found that the Arabian Peninsula may have played a role in the early human migrations out of Africa. The image is from Shutterstock.
The Arabian Peninsula was a key part of the migration of early humans out of Africa. The study looked at the genes of 6,218 Middle Eastern adults and compared them to those of people from all over the world.
The researchers said that Middle Eastern groups made significant genetic contributions to European, South Asian and even South American communities because they interbred with those populations. The results of the study show that the ancestors of the Arabian groups split from early Africans about 90,000 years ago, which is the same time as the ancestors of Europeans and South Asians. This discovery supports the idea that early humans traveled through Arabia to leave Africa.
The study suggests that Arabia was the "cornerstone" of early human migrations out of Africa.
8. 1st Americans have the same genes as Australians.
A Xavnte man is in Brazil after the traditional logs race. The Xavnte people were included in a study about the genetics of people in South America and Oceana. Pedro Ladeira is the photographer.
When the first Americans crossed the Bering Land Bridge, they carried with them pieces of their Australian ancestors. The Indigenous peoples of Australia, Melanesia, New Zealand, and the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean are called the Australasians.
Indigenous peoples in South America still have some of the Australasian pieces of DNA. One of the waves of first Americans may have carried this DNA, but other waves didn't.
According to a study published in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it's likely that the ancestors of 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217
The first Americans had Indigenous Australian genes.
There are 60 fossil human footprints in White Sands National Park. The National Park Service, the US Geological Survey and Bournemouth University are involved.
It is still unclear when the first Americans arrived. 60 footprints found in an ancient lake bed in White Sands National Park, New Mexico, date to between 23,00 and 21,000 years ago, which is far earlier than the roughly 13,000-year-old tools found years ago.
The first proof that people lived in the Americas at the height of the Last Glacial Maximum was found in these footprints.
Fossilized footprints in New Mexico are the earliest evidence of people in the Americas.
10. Denisovan was the oldest-known person to find fossils.
Denisova Cave in Siberia contains bones from Denisovans. Katerina Douka is the image credit.
The oldest Denisovan fossils are 200,000 years old, according to bones found in a cave.
According to research, the Denisovan may have once been widespread across Asia. Their remains are not available. There are only six known Denisovan individuals, five from Denisova Cave in Siberia and one from China. Researchers now have fossils from three more Denisova Cave individuals.
If researchers keep finding Denisovan, it may be that this species won't be so mysterious to us in the future.
The oldest-known fossils of mysterious human lineage were found in a cave.
Live Science published the original article.
