Curated OER
Roots: The Ancestry of Modern People
High schoolers investigate the models for the origin of modern humans and the conditions that facilitate speciation and evolution. The classification and nomenclature of hominid species is also examined.
Curated OER
Hominid Traits: Ape to Man
Twelfth graders collaborate and analyze information about our hominid lineage. They discuss evidence researched by anthropologists. Students use spreadsheet data to compare means of locomotion, diet and brain size.
Curated OER
Studying Fossils: Hominoid Skull Comparison
Students collect data on the differences in Hominid skulls using acrylic casts of fossil skulls. They measure a series of structures on skulls from six different species then use the data to determine evolutionary relationships between...
Curated OER
How Did Humans Evolve?
Students complete an online activity in which they examine fossils to find possible hominid family trees.
Curated OER
Primate Evolution
In this evolution worksheet, students review 9 terms associated with the evolution of primates. Students place 6 terms into a crossword puzzle and 3 terms into fill in the blank statements.
Curated OER
Prehistory Web Quest
Sixth graders identify how geography and climate determine the lives of early hominids, the characteristics of hunter-gatherer societies, how animals affected the lives of early hominids, and how hominids overcame their physical...
Other
Archaeology.info: Homo Habilis
This Archaeology.Info page contains information on the species Homo Habilis. The site includes an introduction, diagnostic features, conclusion, and bibliography.
University of California
Uc Berkeley: Ethiopian Fossils From 6 Million Year Old Hominid
In this article from 2004, UC Berkeley reports that additional fossils have been found from the 2001 discovery of Ardipithecus kadabba. This find holds great importance because it is suggested that it may represent the first species...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Laetoli Trackways Diagram
View a diagram of the hominid footprints that archaeologist Mary Leakey's team found at Laetoli in Tanzania.
Talk Origins Archive
Talkorigins: Biography: Donald Johanson
A biography of Donald Johanson, an anthropologist who has discovered many homo erectus skeletons.
National Geographic
National Geographic: Geostories: Hominin History
Launch the GeoStory to find out about hominins. There are many, many extinct hominins, a fraction of which are represented in this activity.
Scientific American
Scientific American: Oldest Member of the Human Family
This article, published by Scientific American (July 11, 2002), highlights the discovery of a nearly complete skull of the oldest and most primitive member of the human family known yet. This fossil, found in central Africa, contains a...
Read Works
Read Works: A Distant Relative
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about a humanoid skull discovered in 2001. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Scientific American
The Strange Case of the Minnesota Iceman
The modern-day corpse of a human-like hominid, preserved in a block of ice, encountered by researchers in the 1960s. Surely the zoological discovery of the century!
Archaeological Institute of America
Early Homo Erectus Tools in China
An article which describes a fossil site in eastern China where evidence has been found that Home erectus may have been active in eastern China some 400,000 years earlier than scientists believed. The authors also summarize the debate...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Answers to Exploration Questions: Human Evolution
On this site, find answers to the exploration activity on human evolution. Questions discuss both physical traits of hominid as well as DNA evidence.
Talk Origins Archive
Talk Origins: The Hominid Species
Talk Origins gives a broad description of the types of Hominid species, and then gives a description of each species. Includes the specific characteristics of each, and explains the differences between the species.