Chinese Journal of Nature ›› 2010, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (2): 63-.

• Invited Special Paper •     Next Articles

A Brief Introduction of Human Evolution

WU Xinzhi   

  1. CAS Member,Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100044,China
  • Received:2010-02-24 Revised:2010-03-24 Online:2010-04-25 Published:2010-05-25

Abstract: The author gives a brief introduction of a series of human fossils such as Orrorin,Sahelanthropus,Ardipithecus,Australopithcine,Kenyanthropus,H. habilis, H. rudolfensis,human fossils from Dmanisi,H. erectus, Meganthropus, H. floresiensis, H. heidelbergensis in Europe,Neanderthals, H. ergaster, H. rhodensiensis etc. In this article, the main morphological characters of H. erectus of China are described and other human fossils in China are briefly introduced. The author shows the human stature tended to increase before two million years ago after which this tendency stopped. The increasing tendency of brain volume persisted in the whole length of human evolution. The development of the material and spiritual lifes of hominid is also discussed.

Key words: human evolution, trend of stature, trend of brain volume, origin of modern humans