How old is mankind wikipedia

These lines of evidence increasingly indicate that H. Instead it seems diverse groups of human ancestors lived in habitable regions around Africa, evolving physically and culturally in relative isolation, until climate driven changes to African landscapes spurred them to intermittently mix and swap everything from genes to tool techniques. Eventually, this process gave rise to the unique genetic makeup of modern humans. The implication is that the human genome arose in Africa.

Everyone is African, and yet not from any one part of Africa. New discoveries are always adding key waypoints to the chart of our human journey. This timeline of Homo sapiens features some of the best evidence documenting how we evolved. Genes, rather than fossils, can help us chart the migrations, movements and evolution of our own species—and those we descended from or interbred with over the ages.

In , scientists painstakingly teased out the partial genome from these ,year-old remains to reveal that the humans in the pit are the oldest known Neanderthals , our very successful and most familiar close relatives.

Scientists used the molecular clock to estimate how long it took to accumulate the differences between this oldest Neanderthal genome and that of modern humans, and the researchers suggest that a common ancestor lived sometime between , and , years ago. Pinpoint dating isn't the strength of genetic analyses, as the ,year margin of error shows. In the case of H.

Homo heidelbergensis , a species that existed from , to , years ago, is a popular candidate. It appears that the African family tree of this species leads to Homo sapiens while a European branch leads to Homo neanderthalensis and the Denisovans. More ancient DNA could help provide a clearer picture, but finding it is no sure bet. As the physical remains of actual ancient people, fossils tell us most about what they were like in life. But bones or teeth are still subject to a significant amount of interpretation.

Instead, certain features seem to change in different places and times, suggesting separate clusters of anatomical evolution would have produced quite different looking people. But fragments of ,year-old skulls, jaws, teeth and other fossils found at Jebel Irhoud , a rich site also home to advanced stone tools, are the oldest Homo sapiens remains yet found. The remains of five individuals at Jebel Irhoud exhibit traits of a face that looks compellingly modern, mixed with other traits like an elongated brain case reminiscent of more archaic humans.

The ,year-old skulls of two adults and a child at Herto, Ethiopia, were classified as the subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu because of slight morphological differences including larger size. A skull discovered at Ngaloba, Tanzania, also considered Homo sapiens , represents a ,year-old individual with a mix of archaic traits and more modern aspects like smaller facial features and a further reduced brow.

Debate over the definition of which fossil remains represent modern humans, given these disparities, is common among experts. So much so that some seek to simplify the characterization by considering them part of a single, diverse group. As Scerri references, African material culture shows a widespread shift some , years ago from clunky, handheld stone tools to the more refined blades and projectile points known as Middle Stone Age toolkits.

They had two sexes , as was common to many humanoid species. ENT : " Cogenitor "; TNG : " The Outcast " The female of the species was fertile once a month after she reached puberty until the onset of a biochemical stage known as menopause. DS9 : " Body Parts " The make-up of Human DNA structure was significant, as, with some modifications, it allowed them to crossbreed successfully with a wide range of other races across the galaxy, including Vulcans , Betazoids , and Klingons.

On average, Humans were not as physically strong as some species such as Klingons and Vulcans. They were more adaptable to incarceration than Klingons. ENT : " Strange New World ", " Shuttlepod One " Their bodies' efficient temperature regulation allowed them to resist and survive cold temperatures that would adversely affect other species such as Cardassians and Klingons or high temperatures that would be uncomfortable for an Andorian.

DS9 : " Distant Voices ". Humans were prone to strong, occasionally overwhelming emotions , such as love, hatred, embarrassment, and elation. Many Humans anthropomorphized the lower lifeforms they kept as pets. Even fictional characters could elicit Human compassion. ENT : " Dear Doctor ". Humans had iron -based hemoglobin in their blood. Humans were easily the most outworldly, idealistic, and expansionistic race in the United Federation of Planets, and possessed those qualities in a greater degree than many of the alien races they encountered.

Humans had no true specialty or extraordinary qualities and were average in both a technological and physical sense. The Devore inspector Kashyk remarked that Human culture had many contradictions — such as violence and beauty, as well as science and faith — all somehow mingled harmoniously, similar to the counterpoint of a musical composition.

VOY : " Counterpoint ". Because Humans were the Federation species most interested in space exploration, they made up a large majority of Starfleet. The fact that Starfleet was originally a pre-Federation Earth organization also contributed to the Human dominance of Starfleet.

Humans also made up the majority of colonists on Federation colonies. Human adaptability and their strong tradition of innovation and cooperation brought them to the forefront of the current Federation interstellar situation. It was for this very reason, however, that Human society was constantly changing and evolving. This was seen not only on the isolated colonies, where the past traditions brought by culturally and geographically homogeneous blocks of colonists competed with new cultural pragmatism demanded of frontier life, but also in the staid and settled core worlds as well.

Fashion, speech, and especially political views were constantly changing. For species that were steeped in tradition and genealogical reverence as the basis of their societies, the Human fascination with the novel experience and their unending desire to innovate and explore, to discover for the sake of discovery, were all difficult concepts to grasp.

Jazz music persisted into the 24th century and became a contribution to galactic culture, as did opera music. Humans played music collaboratively in a format known as " classical music. Competitive sports from Human cultures also became part of Federation culture in various ways.

Sports played in the 24th century included soccer also known as "football" , fencing , and wrestling. Other Human sports included water polo , baseball , and hockey. Humans expressed themselves through various art forms. One such art form was known as dance. Human cuisine had a broad spectrum, and was shared widely with other cultures.

Humans were omnivorous, unlike vegetarian Vulcan culture. A small sampling of Human dishes enjoyed by other species included pecan pie and chocolate.

Human foods were often connected to a place, a language, or a family, and were a part of a richer cultural experience, such as jambalaya and oden.

TNG : " Time Squared ". Human mating rituals sometimes involved a cultural ceremony known as a wedding to indicate a lasting commitment, as in other cultures, such as Vulcan and Klingon. Human culture evolved to eliminate war, poverty and disease by the year In later centuries , Humans expanded on their desire to seek out new life by turning inward, demonstrating their abilities to create new life in their own image. The stronger, more intelligent and physically resilient 20th century Augments may or may not have qualified as a separate species, but following his experience with Augments in the 22nd century , Dr.

Arik Soong abandoned genetics for cybernetics. His work was continued and fulfilled by Dr. Noonian Soong , who created a series of sentient Soong-type androids , including Lore , B-4 , Juliana Soong the nearly perfect reproduction of his then-comatose wife , and Data the first android to be officially ruled by Federation law as sentient, and who proved capable of reproduction by creating his own daughter, Lal.

Humans also used holographic technology to sprout new sentient life, beginning with the first self-aware holographic character, James Moriarty , in The work of Dr. Lewis Zimmerman on Emergency Medical Holograms birthed The Doctor , Humanity's most complex photonic lifeform , developed in the later 24th century. In the mirror universe , Humans were known as Terrans and were the founders of the Terran Empire. And whatever photo they went with would inevitably leave out most of the diversity and cultural nuance that makes humanity beautiful and interesting.

At first, they chose the Pioneer plaque, which stayed in its privileged position for about five years. But the editors weren't satisfied. Hundreds of pages of discussion reveal a group of people desperately trying to understand their own ignorance, and make amends for the known unknowns.

For 10 years now, a couple in Thailand have represented us all, collectively. They stand in vivid green grass, against a backdrop of rolling hills. He wears a red hat and a furrowed brow; she, a gentle smile and a white band across her hair. They are our digital type specimens. Back in , the plaque made perfect sense: If it was good enough for aliens, it was good enough for humans browsing the web. By fall , an earnest dialogue about objectivity emerged. Not only did the editors hope to look at humans as if they were a different species, they aimed to represent a temporal average.

Things got esoteric fast. Editors Tom and Rednblu argued that the people in the image should wear clothes, as our wardrobe is a crucial part of how human evolution bypassed some of the selection factors that shaped other species.

Paradoxically, perhaps facetiously, dab then nominated Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales as a candidate for the top image among other, more generic, suggestions. Wales consistently wears clothes in pictures and during public appearances.

Other suggestions: John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Albert Einstein. Plenty of celebrities, basically—which is more historically astute than you might think.

Disciples of Carl Linnaeus, the founder of modern taxonomy, did the same thing. He wrote that, "Since for nomenclatorial purposes the specimen most carefully studied and recorded by the author is to be accepted as the type [specimen], clearly Linnaeus himself, who was much addicted to autobiography, must stand as the type of his Homo sapiens! If the taxonomic community has kept Carl Linnaeus as the honorary representation of human beings, then Jimmy Wales, perhaps, makes sense for Wikipedia.

Wales' photos would have helped the editors work around the challenges of copyright and photo quality that crop up on Wikipedia, too. So in the fall of , the crew went with the photo below of two girls in the United States. It was far from perfect. Editors objected that the photo, taken by American photographer Gordon Parks as part of a government project in , was too US-centric. It didn't reflect racial realities in the states, they said.