The Stages of Human Ancestry
Put our ancestors in order, and watch the skull grow.
Arrange our ancestors from earliest to most recent. The badge shows cranial capacity — follow it down the sequence.
Tap the card that comes next
Cranial capacity rises steadily along the sequence, but notice that bipedalism appears at the very beginning, in Australopithecus — long before the brain got large.
Free play — put the stages in order yourself, then play the whole thing through as one continuous process. Switch to when you're ready to test yourself.
What this lesson covers
What you do
- Play it through and follow the badge. Then ask which changed first: walking upright, or the size of the brain.
Challenges to clear
- Put all seven in order, earliest first.
- Lay Homo habilis in its correct place — the first toolmaker.
The task
Arrange our ancestors from earliest to most recent. The badge shows cranial capacity — follow it down the sequence.
What this lesson covers
- Ramapithecus — The earliest form in the line, from about 15 to 20 million years ago in the late Miocene. Ape-like, but showing the first hints of the human direction.
- Australopithecus — Walked upright on two legs — bipedalism came before the big brain, not after it. Height about 120 cm.
- Homo habilis — The handy man — the first to make and use stone tools.
- Homo erectus — Fully erect posture, used fire, and made better tools.
- Neanderthal man — Heavily built, lived in caves, wore skins and buried the dead. Height about 160 cm.
- Cro-Magnon man — Appeared during the last 30,000 years. Tall — about 180 cm — with cave paintings and refined tools.
- Homo sapiens sapiens — Modern man, first appearing about 11,000 years ago around the Caspian and Mediterranean. Height up to 190 cm, with a well-developed chin, a vertical forehead and greatly reduced body hair.
Hint
Cranial capacity rises steadily along the sequence, but notice that bipedalism appears at the very beginning, in Australopithecus — long before the brain got large.