From Toumaï to you: seven million years, twenty-nine known species, five continents, and an ending where only one remains. This is the story of how we became the last ones standing.
29species cataloged
15cultural milestones
6great dispersals
1survivor
When they all coexisted
Proportional scale · each bar = species temporal range
zoom
Pre-australopithecines
Australopithecines
Paranthropus
Early Homo
Late Pleistocene Homo
Us
Did you know?
If you're not sub-Saharan African, between 1% and 4% of your DNA is Neanderthal. Some Tibetans also carry Denisovan DNA that helps them breathe at altitude.
Where each was unearthed
Click a marker · real coordinates ready for Mapbox integration
Species discovery site
Cultural milestone
North Africa
2 species
Toumaï · sapiens
17.45, 17.50 · 31.85, -8.87
East Africa
13 species
Millennium Man · kadabba · Ardi · anamensis · Lucy · platyops · deyiremeda · garhi · Black Skull · Nutcracker Man · Handy Man · rudolfensis · ergaster
Surprise: Neanderthals had bigger braincases than we do
Cranial capacity
Cubic centimeters · bigger = more brain
Ardi
325 cc
Toumaï
350 cc
kadabba
350 cc
anamensis
370 cc
platyops
400 cc
Black Skull
410 cc
Hobbit
417 cc
sediba
420 cc
Lucy
430 cc
garhi
450 cc
Taung Child
485 cc
Nutcracker Man
520 cc
robustus
530 cc
naledi
560 cc
Handy Man
610 cc
rudolfensis
750 cc
ergaster
850 cc
erectus
1000 cc
antecessor
1000 cc
heidelbergensis
1200 cc
Denisovans
1300 cc
sapiens
1350 cc
Dragon Man
1420 cc
Neanderthals
1450 cc
juluensis
1700 cc
Average stature
Centimeters · adult
Hobbit
106 cm
Lucy
107 cm
Toumaï
120 cm
kadabba
120 cm
Ardi
120 cm
Handy Man
120 cm
luzonensis
120 cm
sediba
130 cm
robustus
132 cm
deyiremeda
135 cm
Nutcracker Man
137 cm
Taung Child
138 cm
Millennium Man
140 cm
anamensis
140 cm
platyops
140 cm
garhi
140 cm
Black Skull
140 cm
naledi
144 cm
rudolfensis
155 cm
Neanderthals
165 cm
erectus
170 cm
Pink
170 cm
Denisovans
170 cm
juluensis
170 cm
sapiens
170 cm
ergaster
175 cm
antecessor
175 cm
heidelbergensis
175 cm
Dragon Man
175 cm
Time as a species
How long each existed · we are barely 0.3 million years old
erectus
1.8 Ma
Taung Child
1.2 Ma
Nutcracker Man
1.1 Ma
Toumaï
1.0 Ma
Lucy
1.0 Ma
Handy Man
900 ka
robustus
800 ka
rudolfensis
600 ka
kadabba
600 ka
ergaster
500 ka
heidelbergensis
500 ka
anamensis
400 ka
Black Skull
400 ka
antecessor
400 ka
Denisovans
370 ka
Neanderthals
360 ka
sapiens
315 ka
Millennium Man
300 ka
platyops
300 ka
Pink
300 ka
juluensis
250 ka
Ardi
200 ka
deyiremeda
200 ka
garhi
100 ka
naledi
99 ka
Hobbit
50 ka
luzonensis
17 ka
sediba
10 ka
Dragon Man
1 ka
The defining moments
When tools, fire, art, and language entered the world
3.3
Ma · million years
First stone tools
Lomekwi 3, Kenya. Predate the genus Homo — probably made by Kenyanthropus or Australopithecus.
Lomekwi 3, Kenya
2.6
Ma
Oldowan industry
Systematic stone flakes, linked to Homo habilis and possibly A. garhi.
Gona, Ethiopia
1.76
Ma
Acheulean handaxe
Symmetrical double-edged tools. Invented by Homo ergaster.
Kokiselei 4, Kenya
1
Ma · estimated
Control of fire
Evidence at Wonderwerk, South Africa. Changes diet, sleep, sociality forever.
Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa
430
kya · earliest evidence
Mortuary behavior
Homo heidelbergensis at Atapuerca drops the bodies of at least 28 individuals into a 13-metre vertical shaft — the earliest known evidence that hominins handled their dead deliberately.
Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca
400
kya · thousand years
Wooden spears
Schöningen, Germany. Coordinated horse-hunting by Homo heidelbergensis.
Schöningen, Germany
100
kya · intentional
Intentional burials
Homo sapiens at Qafzeh and Skhul, and Neanderthals at Shanidar, bury their dead with grave goods and ochre. The idea of death — and what comes after — is fully present.
Qafzeh & Skhul, Israel
100
kya
Beads and pigments
Perforated shells, red ochre. Neanderthals and sapiens create symbols.
Blombos Cave, South Africa
45
kya
Cave art
Sulawesi (Indonesia) and Chauvet (France). Symbolic thought explodes.
Sulawesi & Chauvet
20
kya · range 16–25
Peopling of the Americas
Homo sapiens crosses Beringia. By 14.5 kya they have reached Monte Verde (Chile) — the last major continental frontier.
Beringia / Monte Verde
12
kya
Agriculture · Old World
Levantine Mediterranean. The Neolithic begins and our fate is sealed.
Levantine Mediterranean
9
kya · independent
Agriculture · Americas
Maize, beans, squash and potato domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Andes — independently from Eurasia. Refutes the myth of New-World stagnation.
Tehuacán Valley, Mexico
5
kya
Writing · Sumer
Sumer. Memory leaves the brain and becomes external, permanent.
Sumer (Uruk)
2.3
kya · independent
Writing · Maya
Mesoamerica invents writing independently. Maya glyphs encode language; their mathematics includes zero centuries before India.
San Bartolo, Guatemala
1.3
kya · ends 1300 CE
Polynesian expansion
The last great human dispersal. From Taiwan via Melanesia to Hawai'i, Rapa Nui and Aotearoa — open-ocean navigation by the stars, without instruments.