Did humans really evolve from apes?

Yes, humans really evolved from apes.

Human evolution originated from forest apes and developed step by step from primates through a long evolutionary process. It has gone through four stages: apes, primitive humans, sapiens, and modern humans.

Due to the development of today's archaeology, prehistoric civilization has been gradually denied. Archeology already has most of the evolving ancient ape fossils. In line with current biological discoveries, it has been discovered that genetic DNA has evolved, confirming the authenticity of the theory of neutral-like evolution.

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1. Homo habilis

Homo habilis About 1.5 million to 2.5 million years ago, one of the Australopithecus species evolved into Homo habilis first appeared on the east coast of Africa. Homo habilis means a person who can make tools. He is the earliest animal of the genus Homo. Soon after the discovery of Homo habilis fossils, people realized that the human specimens described under this name had different forms and should not be classified as one species, and the specimens with larger brains were separated and called Homo robustus.

As the number of specimens discovered increased, interpretations changed dramatically. The name Homo habilis refers specifically to small specimens. The brains of Homo habilis specimens were only 450, 500 and 600 cubic centimeters, which overlapped with the brains of Australopithecus apes, while the brains of Homo robustus ranged from 700 to 900 cubic centimeters, which was obviously much larger.

It was originally believed that the earliest people to use tools were Homo habilis. The Paleolithic Age began, and after hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, Homo habilis eventually died out after being replaced by a new species of human: Homo erectus. Homo habilis and his descendants Homo erectus existed for a while. The earliest stone tools were found in Africa, called the Olduvian culture, and were initially thought to belong to Homo habilis.

2. Homo erectus

Homo erectus (Homoerectus) first appeared in Africa about 200,000 to 2 million years ago. It is also the so-called late ape man. He knew how to use fire and began to use fire. Symbols and basic language, Homo erectus could use more sophisticated tools, called Acheulean culture. There is evidence that Homo erectus appeared in Africa around the same time as Homo robustus.

The earliest representative of the African Homo erectus lineage is Homo ergaster (1.7 million years ago). It is most similar to a subspecies of Homo erectus. It is this African group that originated about 1.9 million years ago. It spread from Africa to Asia sometime between 1.7 million years ago. About 1 million years ago, with the advent of the Ice Age, Africa began to transform into grasslands, and Homo erectus had to start migrating and expanding to all parts of the world.

They are all distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa (Homo heidelbergensis, Man of Java and Homo erectus all belong to Homo erectus). The most recent Homo erectus fossils found in Africa (about 1 million years ago) have shown a tendency towards Trends in the development of Homo sapiens.

Note: This was the first time humans left Africa. About 800,000 years ago, Homo erectus came to what is now Spain and became the earliest Europeans. About 200,000 years ago, Homo erectus in Europe, Asia and Africa gradually disappeared and was replaced by a new species of human from Africa, Homo sapiens.

3. Homo sapiens

Early Homo sapiens (early Homosapiens) originated in Africa during the Middle Paleolithic about 30,000 to 250,000 years ago, and then expanded to the low and middle latitudes of Europe, Asia, and Africa. (Except for the Americas), this is the second time humans have left Africa. (The Dali people, Maba people, Dingcun people, Xujiayao people, and Neanderthals all belong to early Homo sapiens).

After Homo erectus left Africa, Homo heidelbergensis evolved into Homo heidelbergensis in Europe about 600,000 years ago. Homo heidelbergensis evolved into Neanderthals about 300,000 years ago, mainly distributed in Europe and the Middle and Near East. For Europe and the Near East, Neanderthals almost certainly arose from western groups of Homo erectus, but the situation for Homo erectus in East, South Asia, and Africa is less clear.

The period from about 250,000 to 30,000 years ago was the period of prosperity for Neanderthals. Neanderthals produced more advanced tools, which is called the Moster culture. Neanderthals, who independently evolved into early Homo sapiens, later encountered early Homo sapiens who came out of Africa for the second time and late Homo sapiens who came out of Africa for the third time, and they coexisted with each other for a period of time.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Human Evolution