The Path of Human Evolution

A complex series of evolutionary steps, contingent upon a dynamic environmental context and a long biological heritage, have led to the ascent of Homo sapiens as a dominant component of the modern biosphere. In a field where missing links still abound and new discoveries regularly overturn theoretical paradigms, our understanding of the path of human evolution has made tremendous advances in recent years. Two major trends characterize the development of the hominin clade subsequent to its origins with the advent of upright bipedalism in the Late Miocene of Africa. One is a diversification into two prominent morphological branches, each with a series of 'twigs' representing evolutionary experimentation at the species or subspecies level. The second important trend, which in its earliest manifestations cannot clearly be ascribed to one or the other branch, is the behavioral complexity of an increasing reliance on technology to expand upon limited inherent morphological specializations and to buffer the organism from its environment. This technological dependence is directly associated with the expansion of hominin range outside Africa by the genus Homo, and is accelerated in the sole extant form Homo sapiens through the last 100 Ka. There are interesting correlates between the evolutionary and behavioral patterns seen in the hominin clade and environmental dynamics of the Neogene. In particular, the tempo of morphological and behavioral innovation may be tracking major events in Neogene climatic development as well as reflecting intervals of variability or stability. Major improvements in analytical techniques, coupled with important new collections and a growing body of contextual data are now making possible the integration of global, regional and local environmental archives with an improved biological understanding of the hominin clade to address questions of coincidence and causality.