Homo

Homo is a genus of great ape that emerged from the genus Australopithecus, encompassing a single extant species, Homo sapiens, along with a number of extinct species classified as either ancestral or closely related to modern humans, collectively called archaic humans. Homo, together with the genus Paranthropus, is probably most closely related to the species Australopithecus africanus within Australopithecus. The closest living relatives of Homo are of the hominin genus Pan, with the ancestors of Pan and Homo estimated to have diverged around 5.7–11 million years ago during the Late Miocene.

Homo

Nahleghini · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
humanPBDB
Sits inside
HomininiPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Hominidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Hominidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 238 occurrencesPliocene — about 6 of 238 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 192 of 238 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 40 of 238 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 13 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 12 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 11 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 11 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 11 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 89 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

238 occurrences of Homo on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

238 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

22 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.31°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 3.95°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 3.93°N, 36.34°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.06°N, 36.33°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.04°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 32.33°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EThird White Ash — 27.12°S, 31.97°EChiwondo — 10.33°S, 34.17°EGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EVogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.20°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°EChemeron — 0.67°N, 35.83°EHadar — 11.13°N, 40.58°E'Ubeidiya — 32.68°N, 35.57°EOlorgesailie — 1.58°S, 36.41°EBouri — 10.00°N, 40.50°ENuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°W

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The named rock units Homo has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 146 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Homo and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Homo and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,782 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 223 sites for Homo, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

155 references

Each of the 238 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 143 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Homo

Credit
Nahleghini
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Homo naledi · UW

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHominini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758