Grade 7- Stages of Evolution

Evolution is a natural process of gradual and continuous change of living organisms from a lower (simpler) state to a better-adapted (complex) and superior one.

Archaeological site or prehistoric site- Is a place where human remains were found.

Archaeologists- Are scientists who excavated the human remains for study

Fossils- Refers to human remains.

STAGES OF MAN’S EVOLUTION

1. Ramapithecus also called kenyapithecus

The 15-12-million-year-old remains of Ramapithecus were found by Mary and Louis Leakey at Fort Ternan near Kericho and also at Samburu hills and in the Lakes Turkana and Baringo basins.

Ramapithecus and other manlike creatures were also discovered in Europe, India and China.

Characteristics of Ramapithecus

1. He was manlike.

2. He had small canines.

3. He was quadrupedal (he moved on his four limbs), though he occasionally walked on two legs

2. Australopithecus/ Southern Ape/ Zinjanthropus

Remains of Australopithecus were found at Taung in Botswana in 1924 by Raymond Dart, at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania by Mary Leakey in 1959 and throughout Eastern Africa e.g. regions around Lake Natron in Tanzania, Lake Turkana in Kenya and Omo River valley in Ethiopia.

Characteristics of Australopithecus

1. He was the earliest most manlike hominid. He had a pelvis and leg that were similar to modern man’s.

2. He was bipedal (walked on two limbs).

3. Could defend themselves.

4. Could attack their enemies.

5. Could see or sense impending danger from a distance.

6. Could grasp objects with ease.

7. May have been hairy, short and strong.

8. Had a large face and low forehead.

9. Had stereoscopic vision.

10. Had much larger teeth, skull and jaws.

11. His brain was smaller than modern man, but larger than that of the most intelligent ape: the Gorilla.

3. Homo Habilis (Practical man).

This was the first species of the genus Homo. His two and a half to one and a half million-year-old remains were found at Olduvai Gorge by Jonathan Leakey in 1964, Hadar and Omo River valley in Ethiopia and Koobi-For a in the lake Turkana area in 1972.

Characteristics of Homohabilis

1. He was five feet tall.

2. He had a skull similar to modern man’s in shape.

3. He was omnivorous.

4. He could grasp objects.

5. He made and used tools.

4. Homoerectus (Upright Man)

Homoerectus lived between two million to two hundred thousand years ago.

1. He was five and a half feet tall.

2. He was bipedal (walked on two legs).

3. He made and used tools, such as hand-axes, crude spears and arrowheads from stone, bone and wood.

5. Homo Sapiens (Thinking/ Intelligent Man)

Homo sapien appeared between two hundred thousand and a hundred and fifty thousand years ago.

Characteristics of Homo Sapiens

1. He was under six feet tall

2. He had small teeth.

3. He had a steep and well-rounded forehead.
   

4. He had long straight legs.

5. He made a variety of more refined tools i.e. microliths.

6. He was a fisherman and hunter-gatherer.

7. He domesticated plants and animals.

8. Remains of Homosapien were found at: Eliye springs near Lake Turkana, Kanjera and Kanam in Kenya, Bodo and Omo River valley in Ethiopia Ngaloba in Tanzania.