Becoming Human

Becoming Human brings together interactive multimedia, research and scholarship to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution

News

The Oldest Sculpted Artwork

May 13, 2009

The journal Nature reports this week: “Six fragments of carved ivory recovered from the Hohle Fels in Germany represent the oldest figurative art yet discovered. Dating to at least 35,000 years ago, the Venus has grotesquely exaggerated sexual features and is 5,000 years older than well-known ‘Venuses’ from the Gravettian culture.

The "Hobbit" Debate Continues

May 09, 2009

The puzzling fossils known as Homo floresiensis, nicknamed “Hobbit”, continue to provoke discussion. (See the story “Hobbit Symposium Held”, below) Although given the genus name Homo, the fossils found a few years ago in Indonesia exhibit many traits, especially in the hands and feet, of much earlier members of the hominin lineage, particularly Australopithecus afarensis

The Knee Joint From Hadar

May 08, 2009

The discovery in November 1974 of a nearly complete, three million year old skeleton, nicknamed “Lucy”, overshadowed a quite remarkable find twelve months before. In 1973, Donald Johanson found two fragments of fossilized bone, the proximal or near end of a tibia and the distal or far end of a femur, otherwise known as a shinbone and thighbone, which together form the knee. The distal end of

Journey through the story of human evolution in an interactive documentary experience - Launch the Documentary

Becoming Human is an interactive documentary experience that tells the story of our origins. Journey through four million years of human evolution with your guide, Donald Johanson.

Download for PC or Download for Mac

Building Bodies

Upright posture and the ability to walk on two legs are crucial, major adaptations associated with the divergence of the human lineage from a common ancestor with the African apes. Learn how we stood up!
Chromosome Connection

Students are taken on a chromosome comparison "adventure", in which the banding patterns are compared on the chromosomes of humans and apes. Play Chromosome Connection!

Becoming Human

News

Building Bodies

Chromosome Connection