" Early Hominin Evolution
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Modern humans belong in the species, sapiens, the genus Homo and the tribe Hominini. A hominin is the informal or vernacular term for a specimen that belongs to a taxon within the tribe Hominini. Modern humans and all the fossil taxa more closely related to modern humans than any other living taxa can be referred to as hominins. All early hominins shared with modern humans the capability of bipedal locomotion. The earliest fossil hominins include members of the genera Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, Kenyanthropus, Paranthropus and Homo.
Researchers at UCL have been at the forefront of some early hominin discoveries, their first announcements and descriptions. A number of research labs at UCL focus on the morphological analysis of early fossil hominin craniodental material. Clarifying which early hominins belong within the genus Homo, which first dispersed out of Africa and how we can reconstruct their way of life and the environments they lived in are all strong ongoing research themes at UCL. |