In this review of the evidence for and against taxic diversity within the hominin clade, we
begin by looking at the logic and the history of simple “ladder‐like” interpretations of the …

In this review we attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary history of hominin life history from
extant and fossil evidence. We utilize demographic life history theory and distinguish life …

Homo naledi is a previously-unknown species of extinct hominin discovered within the
Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. This …

The Acheulean technological tradition, characterized by a large (> 10 cm) flake-based
component, represents a significant technological advance over the Oldowan. Although …

Environmental theories of African faunal evolution state that important evolutionary changes
during the Pliocene–Pleistocene interval (the last ca. 5.3 million years) were mediated by …

The lack of an adequate hominid fossil record in eastern Africa between 2 and 3 million
years ago (Ma) has hampered investigations of early hominid phylogeny. Discovery of 2.5 …

Most interpretations of early hominin phylogeny recognize a single early to middle Pliocene
ancestral lineage, best represented by Australopithecus afarensis, which gave rise to a …

▪ Abstract Significant changes occurred in human evolution between 2.5 and 1.8 million
years ago. Stone tools first appeared, brains expanded, bodies enlarged, sexual …

This review begins by setting out the context and the scope of human evolution. Several
classes of evidence, morphological, molecular, and genetic, support a particularly close …

In the 1970s, mid‐Pliocene hominin fossils were found at the sites of Hadar in Ethiopia and
Laetoli in Tanzania. These samples constituted the first substantial evidence for hominins …