Prehistory

Where we came from
and all we've forgotten

We've always tried to explain and re-discover our origins, because, in a sad twist that's just as fascinating as the mystery itself, we don't remember! So many of our attempts to figure out being human--religion, science, psychology, art--start from the underlying premise that we are unique as a species...thus, alone, and without any guides, commiserators, allies, or friends who share the struggles we do. This has not always been the case. Homo sapiens were not always synonymous with "humans", and it's easy to forget in the moment that the way we live now--that is, post-agricultural civilization--is actually a very brief blip of time in the hundreds of thousands of years humans have been...well,human.Whatever that means.

We're a navel-gazing bunch, and whenever our needs for survival are met for the time being, we tend to turn the resource-guzzling cognitive engine in our skulls inwards, either in the individual sense or the greater macrocosmic one. So in the interest of not getting bored and doing something stupid like inventing money or patriarchy again, let's puzzle after our own origins, and try to find out where we came from, shall we?

In this section

Early homo sapiens
This will cover our earliest traceable emergence until the development of agriculture.
Other humans
Homo sapiens haven't always been the only only species of human! And often, our lives overlapped with those of our genetic cousins!
Early History
This covers the development of agriculture up to about 1170 BCE.
The Combined Trophy Room and Wall of Shame
Humanity's Greatest Hits, aka major developments in the ongoing story of homo sapiens...along with moments we should have done differently.

Popular Myths about Humanity

"Humans" mean homo sapiens.
Here, I use the words "humans" and "hominids" interchangeably to mean the branch of the primate family tree consisting of upright-walking, tool-using social animals with advanced communication skills and a propensity for modifying their environment and other species. So yes, homo sapiens, but also Neanderthals, Denisovians, homo habilis, australopithicus, and the rest of the gang. When I mean the only currently remaining species of this group, the species you and I belong to, I'll use homo sapiens.
Homo sapiens evolved from or supplanted other species of hominids.
With regards to "evolving from", it's easy to think we're the most recent step in a chain, and the earlier "versions" of us were rendered obsolete and died out. In reality, there were places and times where you had multiple species of hominids in the same region, sometimes fighting or trying to wipe each other out for resources, yes, but oftentimes sharing the space and even, according to an increasing body of evidence, procreating and living together. The mystery is more to do with why homo sapiens are still here and the others aren't.It is possible we deliberately or accidentally outcompeted other hominids and are the only humans remaining, but it's more likely that multiple factors played a role in what you can look at as either our dominance in inheriting the earth or as our simply being the final girl of evolution.