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How many early human species existed on Earth? - Livescience.com

How many early human species existed on Earth? - Livescience.com

How many early human species existed on Earth? - Livescience.com
Jan 24, 2021 1 min, 39 secs

It depends on your definition of human.

Long ago, there was a lot more human diversity; Homo sapiens lived alongside an estimated eight now-extinct species of human about 300,000 years ago.

As recently as 15,000 years ago, we were sharing caves with another human species known as the Denisovans?

When it comes to figuring out exactly how many distinct species of humans existed, it gets complicated pretty quickly, especially because researchers keep unearthing new fossils that end up being totally separate and previously unknown species.

Some researchers argue that the species known as Homo erectus is in fact made up of several different species, including Homo georgicus and Homo ergaster.

"It's all about the definition of a species and the degree to which you accept variation within a species," Stewart told Live Science.

But we don't have the DNA of every ancient human — the genome of Homo erectus, for instance, has never been sequenced, Live Science previously reported. .

"They’re just a slightly different type of modern humans and the interbreeding is the proof, but again the definition of species has moved on from just interbreeding."?

But others say that, while a cast-iron definition of a species is almost impossible to achieve, it's still worth the effort so that we can talk about evolution — including the evolution of our own species — in a meaningful way. .

So we muddle on, knowing that a species means different things to different people — which means, of course, that people will disagree on how many species of human have ever existed.

The list also includes other species that existed closer in time to the common ancestor of humans and chimps, and so look more like chimpanzees than modern-day humans.

Despite their looks, these species are still known as early humans.

For instance, the recently discovered dwarf human species Homo luzonensis, who is known from just a few bones unearthed in an Indonesian cave, is not included on the Smithsonian's list

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