Anatomy
Globular braincase, reduced brow ridges, chin and generally gracile skeleton with extensive living variation.
COMPREHENSIVE INTERACTIVE REPORT · High
Homo sapiens
Our speciesAbout 300,000 years ago–present · African origin; global
Current synthesis
The only living human species, emerging from structured African populations and later expanding globally while mixing with other lineages.
Ecology & food
Every major terrestrial biome plus marine, aerial and orbital technological environments.
Technology
Cumulative tool, language, art, agricultural, industrial and computational systems.
Clothing evidence
The evidence changes radically across our species’ long history. Hide-working tools support early leather or fur garments; much later preserved textiles support specific fibers and weaves. These are not interchangeable styles.
Behavior & social evidence
Immense cultural variation; no single living population represents an ancestral default.
Relationships
Interbred with Neanderthals, Denisovan-related populations and genetically inferred archaic groups.
Controversies
Timing and routes of dispersal, regional population structure and how behavior accumulated.
What reaches forward
A planetary species whose survival is inseparable from other organisms, climate and institutions.
SOURCE DESK