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archaic_human
📅 Updated:2025-10-21
🕒 Created:2024-07-05
🆔 ID:61334
Description
[color=species]Archaic human[/color] is a broad category denoting all species of the genus [color=species]Homo[/color] that are not Homo sapiens (which are known as modern humans).
Archaic humans are distinguished from anatomically modern humans by having a thick skull, smaller cranial cavities (and thus brains), prominent supraorbital ridges (brow ridges) and the lack of a prominent chin. With the earliest known archaic human fossil being LD-350-1 (a partial left jawbone of incertae sedis), the Homo has been dated as far back as 2.75–2.8 million years ago, but all members sans the youngest species of Homo sapiens are extinct as recently as 25,000 years ago.
Due to paleoanthropologist interest in the evolution of human species, the taxonomy of archaic humans are of constant debate and study. Some arguments stipulate that some species (often lesser known to the general public) are misidentified members of more recognized Homo species, or even belong to ancestral genera such as Australopithecus or Paranthropus (with a handful species reclassified to and from these genera), or even subspecies of modern humans. These stances are taken due to factors such as a lack or prominence of overt physical distinctions in fossils or that holotypes consist of evidence as little as a single tooth.
