The 85-million-year timeline of human evolution — SkimNews
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- Primates likely emerged 85–55 million years ago, with genetic evidence suggesting they evolved before the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact 66 million years ago, even though the earliest clear post-extinction fossils like Purgatorius appear in North America afterward
- Eurasian apes may have begun walking upright as early as 12–7 million years ago — fossils from Danuvius (Germany, 11.6 million years ago) and Rudapithecus (Hungary, 10 million years ago) show leg and pelvis traits tied to bipedalism, which would relocate a key human-evolution milestone outside Africa
- Sahelanthropus tchadensis, dated to 7 million years ago in Chad, is the oldest known hominin, though researchers have debated whether it truly walked on two legs and whether it belongs on the human family tree ever since its 2002 description
- Ardipithecus ramidus — a 4.4-million-year-old female skeleton from Ethiopia known as "Ardi" — is the oldest near-complete hominin skeleton and offers the best direct evidence about the last common ancestor shared with chimpanzees, the article notes
- Australopithecus species spread across Africa between 4.2 and 1.9 million years ago, including the famous "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) from Ethiopia, with some southern populations sharing the continent with the earliest members of genus Homo
- The oldest known stone tools — crude flakes bashed off one stone with another — date to 3.3 million years ago at Lomekwi, Kenya, though which hominins made them remains unclear
Why it matters: The long-standing view that bipedal walking emerged in Africa faces a direct challenge from Eurasian ape fossils like Danuvius and Rudapithecus, dated 11.6 and 10 million years ago. If confirmed, it would reshape how human origins are taught and broaden which countries host critical hominin research sites worldwide.
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