Talk Origins Archive
Talk Origins: The Hominid Species
Talk Origins gives a broad description of the types of Hominid species, and then gives a description of each species. Includes the specific characteristics of each, and explains the differences between the species.
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Apes to Man
This lesson plan explores the primates in the African savannas that were the first animals to walk erect (bipedalism), which is a milestone in human evolution.
Talk Origins Archive
Talk Origins: Fossil Hominids: Richard Leakey
Biography of Richard Leakey that deals with his paleontological work and his efforts to preserve African wildlife.
PBS
Pbs Teachers:how Did Humans Evolve?
Explore paleoanthropology by going on a virtual "dig" to answer questions about famous fossil finds. Explain how alternate hominid family trees result from different interpretations of the same fossil evidence.
Other
Institute of Human Origins: Becoming Human
Multimedia-rich guide for anyone making their way through a study of human origin. Find information and analysis about the fossil record, comparative anatomy, theories, and the cultural adaptations of humans and their ancestors. With an...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Laetoli Trackways Diagram
View a diagram of the hominid footprints that archaeologist Mary Leakey's team found at Laetoli in Tanzania.
PBS
Pbs News Hour Extra: Scientists Discover Oldest Human Ancestor
Scientists have recently published their research into fossil bones from Ethiopia that they say came from an ancestor common to both humans and chimpanzees. They have named the ancestor Ardipithecus ramidus. In the articles and video,...
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Sahelanthropus
An encyclopedia article on the oldest known hominid discusses the features of the fossils that were found, the region in which they were found, and what this means for human evolution.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Transforming Leap, From Four Legs to Two
John Noble Wilford, a "New York Times" science writer, outlines various hypotheses on the origin of bipedalism.
Archaeological Institute of America
Early Homo Erectus Tools in China
An article which describes a fossil site in eastern China where evidence has been found that Home erectus may have been active in eastern China some 400,000 years earlier than scientists believed. The authors also summarize the debate...
Scientific American
Scientific American: Oldest Member of the Human Family
This article, published by Scientific American (July 11, 2002), highlights the discovery of a nearly complete skull of the oldest and most primitive member of the human family known yet. This fossil, found in central Africa, contains a...
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Australopithecus Anamensis
Wikipedia's entry on Australopithecus anamensis. It discusses its scientific classification, age and its posture.
Other
Cartage.org: Australopithecus Afarensis
This essay provides a picture along with brief physical description of one of modern man's earliest ancestors.
Curated OER
Unesco: Tanzania: Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area spans vast expanses of highland plains, savanna, savanna woodlands and forests. Established in 1959 as a multiple land use area, with wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists practicing...