Which One Would You Rather Be?

What Lucy might have looked like.

Lucy was an Australopithecine which is one of the many human-like species. They lived about 3.5 million years ago. The species were somewhat like humans. They could walk upright and they had opposable thumbs. Walking upright can make travel easier and faster and have opposable thumbs makes it easier to pick things up. Today, we can walk upright because of this and it makes travel faster. 

A modern human thumb.

Homo Habilis, also known as the Handy Man, were alive about 2 million years ago. They were the first tool makers and made uni-facial tools. They were smarter than species before them but only had the brain size of a modern 2 year old. Like homo habilis, humans today make tools but more advanced tools. Homo Habilis started technology and if they didn't we might not have as much or any of the advanced technology we have today.

Uni-facial tools that homo habilis used.

Tools that we use today.

Homo Erectus was a human-like species that were alive 1.5 million years ago and migrated from Africa. They were more human-like than any other species that had been alive before them. From research, we know that homo erectus domesticated fire. Today, modern humans use fire for many things that they might have used it for and more. People know that homo erectus made clothing because of Ethnographic Analogy which is the study of culture. Modern humans also make clothing today. Unlike Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus could make bi-facial tools which were more advanced tools.

The way we use fire today.

Homo sapiens in a hunting group.

Homo Sapiens appeared 200,000 years ago. Even though they still looked like homo erectus, they had much larger brains than them. Because they had larger brains, they could do a lot more things and think about things more than other species before them. People also know that they cared for others like humans do today. Humans have large brains so we are very smart. 

Neanderthals were alive from 200,000 to 30,000 years ago. They were very much like us. They made advanced tools like we do, buried their dead like we do, and they cared for others like we do. Even though they were very smart, they obviously didn't have enough knowledge to stay alive because they became extinct. I think that humans today are a lot smarter than Neanderthals because we have advanced our technology a lot more than Neanderthals did.

Neanderthal bones found buried.

We bury our dead today.

Cro magnon painting on cave walls.

Cro-Magnon were alive 40,000 years ago. They took over Europe and were the first to have art such as jewelry, They also have social classes that divided them into groups. I think that Cro-Magnons were more humans than Neanderthals because we also still have social classes like they did but our social classes are probably more in-depth. If Cro-Magnon didn't have social classes, we might not have had them today which could be a bad thing or a good thing.

Humans painting today.

A neanderthal skeleton compared to a human skeleton.

Modern humans are very different from other species that were similar. Humans have advanced technology so much from when we were first appeared. Humans have to think a lot less about if they are going to survive today. Years ago, that is one of the most important things that a different species had to think about. They also didn't have much variety in the way they could live. Today, humans have so many different choices on where we live and how we live our lives. Humans also have much larger brains than species that lived before them. Having a larger brain can make you a lot smarter. You can store more information and figure things out easier unlike earlier species which only had the brain size of a modern 2 year old.