Human taxonomy

Human taxonomy is the way scientists group and name humans and their ancient relatives. It helps us understand where we come from and how we are related to other living things. The human species belongs to a group called the genus Homo, which includes both people living today and older kinds of humans who no longer exist. Today, people are called Homo sapiens, but there were other types like Homo sapiens idaltu, who may have been direct ancestors.

For a long time, scientists have studied how humans evolved. They have found many different kinds of ancient humans and tried to organize them into groups. Most agree that the genus Homo began between two and three million years ago. It includes at least two main kinds: archaic Homo erectus and modern Homo sapiens. Scientists are still learning more and sometimes suggest new groups.

Humans are part of a larger group called the tribe Hominini, which also includes chimpanzees. Experts think humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor and then separated over a very long time, starting about 10 million years ago and finishing around 6 million years ago. Some scientists also talk about a group called Australopithecina, which may include very old “pre-human” types that lived before the split between humans and chimpanzees.

Sorting humans by how they look has been a tricky and controversial topic. In the past, biologists used to group people into different subspecies based on race, but today most experts think this is not useful. They see all humans as part of one big, connected family with many mixtures of genes. The way scientists classify ancient humans is still changing as we learn more.

History

Further information: History of hominoid taxonomy, Hominini, Anthropomorpha, and Pithecanthropus

Human taxonomy is about where humans fit among the great apes and how we sort different kinds of humans into groups. The system we use today was started by Carl Linnaeus in the 1700s. He was the first to suggest that people could be grouped like other living things. He named our species Homo sapiens in 1758.

We learned about other human-like species in the 1800s, such as Homo neanderthalensis, found in fossils. Since then, scientists have named many more ancient human relatives, but they don't all agree on exactly how many there were. Over time, our understanding of these early humans has grown a lot, and the way we name them has changed many times.

Species

Main article: Homo

Scientists have found evidence of many types of early humans, called Homo, besides the ones we know today, Homo sapiens. Some think these early humans should be grouped together under just a few main types, like Homo erectus. For example, Homo ergaster might be part of Homo erectus. New discoveries, like the Dmanisi skulls and Homo naledi fossils, make it even harder to sort out all the different early human types.

Subspecies

Homo sapiens subspecies

Further information: Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans, Early modern human, and Race and genetics

The idea of grouping people into smaller types, called subspecies, has a long history. Scientists sometimes use this idea to help organize information, but it can be tricky. For many years, people tried to split humans into different groups based on where they lived, like from Europe or Asia.

Over time, scientists realized that all humans are very similar genetically, no matter where they come from. Today, most scientists don’t use subspecies to describe living humans anymore. However, they do study older human relatives, like Neanderthals, to learn more about our past.

Homo erectus subspecies

Further information: Homo erectus § Descendants and subspecies

Scientists have found many fossils of an early human called Homo erectus. These fossils come from different places and times, so some scientists have given them different names. However, not all scientists agree on these names or how to group them.

• Homo erectus erectus (Java Man) (1970s)
• Homo erectus yuanmouensis (Yuanmou Man) (Li et al., 1977)
• Homo erectus lantianensis (Lantian Man) (Woo Ju-Kang, 1964)
• Homo erectus nankinensis (Nanjing Man) (1993)
• Homo erectus pekinensis (Peking Man) (1970s)
• Homo erectus palaeojavanicus (Meganthropus) (Tyler, 2001)
• Homo erectus soloensis (Solo Man) (Oppenoorth, 1932)
• Homo erectus tautavelensis (Tautavel Man) (de Lumley and de Lumley, 1971)
• Homo erectus georgicus (1991)
• Homo erectus bilzingslebenensis (Vlček, 2002)
• Homo erectus loganalis (2009)