How did human beings come to be? Paleontologists, the scientists who study fossils, believe that our earliest hominid
(human-like) ancestors lived in Africa. The oldest hominid fossil we have found belongs to Ardipithecus ramidus. This
creature looked more like an ape than a human, with a smaller brain and a hairy body. It lived as early as 5.8 million years ago! 
As time went on, the early African hominids continued to evolve, developing more and more human traits, like larger brains, 
more upright skeletons, and less body hair. Homo habilis was the first of the human species, and the first of our ancestors to 
make and use tools. Homo erectus came next. He was the first human who definitely used speech.








 FAMOUS FACES
LUCY in 1973, Dr. Donald Johanson discovered the skeleton of an Australopithecus 
afarensis. He and his team named their 3.2-million-year-old find Lucy. 
Lucy stood just over 3 feet high, and she was bipedal (that means she walked 
upright). Scientists consider bipedalism to be one of the most important factors 
in determining whether a fossil is a human relative.








HOW EARLY HUMANS LIVED
        The life of the earliest Homo sapiens was focused on one thing: survival. Most of their days were probably spent getting 
food and finding shelter. They were hunter-gatherers, which mean that they didn’t know how to farm crops or breed animals. 
They lived off the land and moved around in packs. Unlike other predators, humans didn’t have deadly teeth and claws. 
Fortunately, they had one huge advantage: intelligence. Their large brains allowed our early ancestors to construct 
weapons and hunt in coordinated groups. Like the animals they hunted, human tribes were sure to live near water. 
Without water, no animal can survive for very long.
	As we continue to collect data from our distant ancestors, we find more and more similarities between them 
and modern humans. They had an interest in art – some early cave paintings date back 30,000 years. They were also family 
oriented. Most paleontologists agree that even the earliest hominids, like Lucy, lived in communities that were centered on 
families. So maybe we haven’t come that far after all.