Early man.The earliest fossil hominid, Ardipithecus ramidus, is a recent discovery dating 4.4 million years ago. He was 4 feet tall and bipedal (having two feet). It is thought this species lived as forest dwellers. Australopithecus anamensis, a new species, was named in 1995 and was found in Kenya. This species lived between 4.2 and 3.9 million years ago, and its body showed advanced bipedal features, but the skull closely resembled the ancient apes.Australopithecus afarensis lived between 3.9 and 3.0 million years ago. He retained the apelike face with a sloping forehead, a ridge over the eyes, flat nose, and a chinless lower jaw, and height, 3’6†and 5’ tall. He was fully bipedal, and the thickness of his bones showed he was quite strong. His build was similar to a human, but the head and face were proportionately much larger.The Australopithecus africanus was similar to the afarensis, but lived between three and two million years ago. He was also bipedal and slightly larger in body size. His brain was not advanced for speech. The hominid was an herbivore and ate tough, hard to chew, plants. The shape of the jaw was human-like.The Australopithecus robustus lived between two and 1.5 million years ago. His body was similar to that of the africanus, but had a larger and more massive skull and teeth. His huge face was flat and had no forehead. He had no indication of speech capabilities.The Australopithecus boisei lived between 2.1 and 1.1 million years ago. He was smaller than the robustus, but with a more massive face. He had huge molars, for which the largest measured 0.9 inches across. Some authorities believe the robustus and boisei are of the same species.Next is the Homo habilis, or also called The Handy Man because tools were found with his fossil remains. He existed between 2.4 and 1.5 million years ago. The brain shape shows evidence some speech had developed. He was 5’ tall and weighed about 100 pounds.Homo erectus lived between 1.8 million and 300,000 years ago. Toward the end, his brain was that of the size of modern man, and definitely could speak.Erectus developed tools, weapons, fire, and learned to cook his own food. He traveled out of Africa into China and the Southeast Asia developing clothing for northern climates. He turned to hunting for his food, and only his head and face differed from modern man. Homo sapiens (archaic) lived during the period 200,000 to 500,000 years ago. He had speech capabilities; his skull was rounded with smaller features. The skeleton shows a stronger build than modern human, but well proportioned. Pretty cool, huh?