ANCESTORS AND DECENDENTS

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An ancestor is a person from whom one is descended, especially if more remote than a grandparent. We descended from early man; early man is our ancestor. Some of our ancestors are Homo habilis: They were about 1.0 meters high, they had relatively long arms, and have a cranial volume of 500-650cc. They also lived in eastern Africa, and had a fully developed nose and thin jaw. Homo erectus were 1.3-1.7 meters high, robust, had a cranial volume of 750-1250cc, and lived in Africa and Asia. Homo erectus had a robust jaw, but had smaller teeth then Homo habilis.           There were numerous different types of ancient man, not just Homo habilis and Homo erectus. There was also Homo sapiens meaning "wise or knowing." He lived 160,000 years ago, and was discovered in 1997 in Ethiopia. Australopithecus robustus lived 2 million years ago, and was discovered in 1938 in Kromdaai, South Africa. Australopithecus ramidus lived 4.4 million years ago, and was discovered in 1994 in Aramis, Ethiopia.           Studying man's ancestors is important in the world today because scientists interpret the bones of ancient man. Doing this, they can figure out how much modern humans has developed, what our ancestors looked like, what their cranial capacity was,how large they were, and even what they ate by just looking at the jaw structure.

Ancient man

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AUTRALOPITHECUS

HOMO HABILIS

HOMO ERECTUS

HOMO SAPIENS

NEANDERTHAL

CRO-MAGNON

Atrolopithecus Neanderthals Cranial Capacity Ethiopia Small They lived millions of years ago Outstanding History Rubustus

"The first findings of Homo erectus fossils were made in the late 19th and early 20th century in China and Indonesia." - Anynomous