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Fossil Hominids

The Evidence for Human Evolution

Permission is given to copy and print these pages for non-profit personal or educational use.

This web site is intended to provide an overview of the study of human evolution, and of the currently accepted fossil evidence. It also contains a very comprehensive treatment of creationist claims about human evolution. If you are not interested in creationism, you can easily skip those pages. If you are interested in creationism, you can go directly to the pages on creationist arguments; they contain links to the fossils under discussion when necessary.

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What's new at this site?

Hominid Species (including a timeline)
Hominid Fossils (a list of the most important hominid fossils)
Guest Articles

Frequently Asked Questions

Creationist Arguments

The Paleoanthro Weblog

Oct 8, 2009 In its October 2nd issue, the journal Science published 11 papers on the new Ardipithecus ramidus fossil. I'll be updating this site soon to cover this spectacular new fossil. In the meantime, you can find the papers here (there's a free sign-up to access the papers, but the author summaries are freely accessible). Carl Zimmer is also a good starting point.

Jan 2, 2009: In 2007, the discovery of fossilized bones from the body (as opposed to the head) of the Dmanisi hominids was announced. These bones show that the Dmanisi hominids were bipedal, but with some primitive characteristics particularly in the upper body. The bones are definitely not those of apes, but they are not quite like those of modern humans either. At the Panda's Thumb, I have responded to articles about these fossils by Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute, and Answers In Genesis. These creationist responses are particularly hilarious because they contradict one another: Luskin thinks that the bones are from apes, while AIG thinks they belong to humans. Yet again, creationists confirm that they can't tell the difference between apes and humans even as they assure us that all the fossils are either ape or human.

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Paleoanthropology Links

Featured Books

Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins
An excellent introduction by science writer Carl Zimmer

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This site is updated regularly. Contact the author with corrections, criticisms, suggestions for further topics, or feedback.

Thanks to those who have reviewed or made comments on these pages, including Randy Skelton, Marc Anderson, Mike Fisk, Tom Scharle, Ralph Holloway, Jim Oliver, Todd Koetje, Debra McKay, Jenny Hutchison, Glen Kuban, Colin Groves, and Alex Duncan. Any errors which remain are, of course, mine.