title: Human origins.
abstract: New discoveries combine to indicate that all the major steps in human evolution took place in Africa. Skeletal analysis of oldest human forbears around 3 million years ago reveal many anatomical similarities to African Great Apes. These and biochemical resemblances indicate a common ancestry for humans and apes, perhaps only a few million years earlier. Enlarged knowledge through recent recovery of skeletons of several successive stages in the line leading to modern peoples shows that many attributes or skills by which we define humanity arose much more recently in time than heretofore believed.
authors.affiliation: Duke University Center, Durham, NC 27705.
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Simons
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology