Exactly when & where was the first pre-human/hominid discovered ?

Question

When I use to believe in god, I believed adam was the first prehuman, living in a garden, without having a civilization !!

But now that I am atheist, I would like to know the FACTS on where and when the first prehuman and later humans came on the scene in the history of humanity !!

I would appreciate as many Sources, Websites, books to read, etc. etc. as possible Please.

Thank You Very Much.

P.S. - I'll probably have other questions coming concerning prehumans, humans, civilizations,
history, etc.
Thank You all very much for bearing with me, and sharing your vast knowledge with me.

Answer 1

I believe the first fossil hominid discovery was that of the Taung child, found in Taung, South Africa. It was an example of the species Australopithecus Afracanus. It was discovered in 1924, though the discovery was rejected by the scientific community at large until 1940.

As far as the hominid family tree (of which we are a part) goes, that is a long and complicated path and one fraught with controversy. No serious scientist doubts that humans evolved naturally - like every other species - but the particulars are open to debate.

Note that humans did not evolve from apes, but from an ape like ancestor common to both humans and chimpanzees. I think the current front runner for oldest human ancestor is a tree dwelling primate called Sahleanthropus Tachadensis (forgive me if I spelled that wrong.) That species lived in east Africa five to six million years ago.

I've included a couple of good human evolution sites below. Good luck with your studies!

Answer 2

The first prehuman that is known to science was the Neanderthal found in the Neander valley in Germany. The first known Neanderthal was found in 1829. There were probably numerous skull and fossils found that were not known to science. The first Neanderthal that became famous was of an old arthritic individual. Neanderthals were extremely powerful and intelligent. I think in a wrestling match, a modern human wouldn't stand a chance. I would recommend becoming human by Ian Tattersal. By the way, the Taung Child was found much latter than Neanderthal but it was an important find in its own right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taung_Child

Answer 3

Peter Lund a danish archaeologist found in 1843 the first americans in Brazil
Neves WA, Hubbe M, Piló LB
Early Holocene human skeletal remains from Sumidouro Cave, Lagoa Santa, Brazil: History of discoveries, geological and chronological context, and comparative cranial morphology.
J Hum Evol. 2006 Aug 8;
In this work, we present new evidence supporting the idea that the first Americans were very distinct from late and recent Native Americans and Asians in terms of cranial morphology. The study is based on 30 early Holocene specimens recovered from Sumidouro Cave (Lagoa Santa region, central Brazil) by Peter Lund in 1843. Sumidouro is the largest known collection of Paleoindian skulls deriving from a single site. Six different multivariate statistical methods were applied to assess the morphological affinities of the Sumidouro skulls in comparison to Howells' worldwide extant series and late archaic Brazilian series (Base Aérea and Tapera). The results show a clear association between Sumidouro and Australo-Melanesians and none with late Asian and Amerindian series. These results are in accordance with those of previous studies of final Pleistocene/early Holocene human skulls from South, Central, and North America, attesting to a colonization of the New World by at least two different, succeeding biological populations: an early one with a cranial morphology similar to that found today in the African and Australian continents, and a later one with a morphology similar to that found today among northeastern Asians.

Answer 4

wrong, wrong wrong!, the term prehuman hominid, is a term used to describe a completely different speicies than humans, NOONE, can prove otherwise!,anyone that even tries, is jumping to conclusions,and imagining,THIS IS A FACT, check it out, research it,it simply canot be proven, and is what we in the true scientific community refer to as hocus pocus........or bullshit!

Answer 5

sometime in the 1800's and it was an A. afarensis. But the oldest was Lucy, before that child afarensis was found earlier this year.