How an early human diet changed the course of evolution: Ancestors who expanded their choice of food 3.76 million years ago helped the species to thrive
- Researchers studied the tooth enamel of 152 fossils from across Africa
- They found early humans began eating new types of plants in the Pliocene
- This allowed them to live in a wide variety of habitats unlike other primates
PUBLISHED: 19:00 GMT, 14 September 2015 | UPDATED: 19:21 GMT, 14 September 2015
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THE COMPLEX EVOLUTION OF MAN
55 million years ago - First primitive primates evolve
15 million years ago - Hominidae (great apes) evolve from the ancestors of the gibbon
8 million years ago - First gorillas evolve. Later, chimp and human lineages diverge
5.5 million years ago - Ardipithecus, early 'proto-human' shares traits with chimps and gorillas
4 million years ago - Ape like early humans, the Australopithecines appeared. They had brains no larger than a chimpanzee's but other more human like features
3.9-2.9 million years ago - Australoipithecus afarensis lived in Africa.
3-2 million years ago - Australopithecus africanus lived
2.7 million years ago - Paranthropus, lived in woods and had massive jaws for chewing
2.3 million years ago - Homo habalis first thought to have appeared in Africa
1.85 million years ago - First 'modern' hand emerges
1.8 million years ago - Homo ergaster begins to appear in fossil record
1.6 million years ago - Hand axes become the first major technological innovation
800,000 years ago - Early humans control fire and create hearths. Brain size increases rapidly
400,000 years ago - Neanderthals first begin to appear and spread across Europe and Asia
200,000 years ago - Homo sapiens - modern humans - appear in Africa
40,0000 years ago - Modern humans reach Europe