Homo Sapiens

Homo sapiens — "wise human" — is the only surviving species of the genus Homo and the most widespread large animal on the planet. Emerging in Africa around 300,000 years ago, our species is distinguished by a high, rounded skull, a prominent chin, reduced brow ridges, and — most importantly — a brain capable of language, abstract thought, and cumulative cultural learning on a scale no other species has achieved.

For the first 200,000 years of our existence, Homo sapiens lived exclusively in Africa, developing increasingly sophisticated stone tools, creating the earliest known art and jewelry, and living in small, mobile bands. Around 70,000 years ago, something changed — what some researchers call the Cognitive Revolution. Armed with fully modern language and symbolic culture, Homo sapiens began spreading out of Africa, eventually reaching Australia by 65,000 years ago, Europe by 45,000 years ago, and the Americas by at least 15,000 years ago.

Along the way, Homo sapiens encountered and interacted with other hominin species — Neanderthals, Denisovans, and possibly others — sometimes peacefully, sometimes not. Within tens of thousands of years, all other hominin species were extinct. Whether through competition, interbreeding, or some combination, Homo sapiens became the last hominin standing — a position of ecological dominance that has only intensified in the millennia since.