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Our Human Story
Our Human Story is a guide to our fossil relatives, from what may be the earliest hominins such as Sahelanthropus, dating back six to seven million years, through to our own species, Homo sapiens.
Over the past 25 years there has been an explosion of species’ names in the story of human evolution, due both to new discoveries and to a growing understanding of the diversity that existed in the past.
Drawing on this new information, as well as their own considerable expertise and practical experience, Louise Humphrey and Chris Stringer explain in clear and accessible language what each of the key species represents, and how it contributes to our knowledge of human evolution.
Over the past 25 years there has been an explosion of species’ names in the story of human evolution, due both to new discoveries and to a growing understanding of the diversity that existed in the past.
Drawing on this new information, as well as their own considerable expertise and practical experience, Louise Humphrey and Chris Stringer explain in clear and accessible language what each of the key species represents, and how it contributes to our knowledge of human evolution.
160 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 31, 2023
2023-08-31
Author: Prof. Chris Stringer and Louise Humphrey, reprinted with updates 2019 and 2022.
Published in 2018.
Excellent overall introduction to human evolution.
A surprising fact: the last 10 000 years our brain size decreased.
Beautiful illustrations and photos, 160 pages.
London museum of natural history - great source.
Author: Prof. Chris Stringer and Louise Humphrey, reprinted with updates 2019 and 2022.
Published in 2018.
Excellent overall introduction to human evolution.
A surprising fact: the last 10 000 years our brain size decreased.
Beautiful illustrations and photos, 160 pages.
London museum of natural history - great source.
April 25, 2023
Interesting subject matter, human evolution and what we know about the hominid fossils that have been found so far. It is full of useful illustrations, and it provides a nice overview of pre-historic hominid fossils of which there aren't that many if you look at it.
The book is a bit short and the writing a bit scientific but definitely interesting enough to make this a good read and to make me want to read more on the subject of human evolution.
The book is a bit short and the writing a bit scientific but definitely interesting enough to make this a good read and to make me want to read more on the subject of human evolution.
June 15, 2025
M'ha encantat aquest llibre del museu d'història natural de Londres. Fa una introducció molt interessant, amena i accessible a l’evolució humana i la paleoantropologia. El llibre repassa els diferents homínids, des dels més primitius passant pels australopitecs i acabant al gènere Homo, explicant com es van descobrir, com vivien i com es van expandir pel món. També aborda, entre altres, els mètodes de datació i les eines de la paleoecologia. Molt útil per entendre la nostra història evolutiva.
September 15, 2018
An easy to read and lavishly illustrated portrayal of the current state of paleoanthropology, with the emphasis on the archeological remnants of the various hominins that have evolved and gone extinct over the ages and what modern science can tell us about where and how they lived, and what tools, if any, they employed. There are useful digressions on how scientists date their finds, what the various paleo-ecologies must have been like, and how the many new species discovered in the last 30 years or so has altered our view of human ancestry and evolution. A very good introduction to the topic indeed.
April 11, 2018
Our Human Story is an excellent introduction to aspects of hominin evolution. As a student of Palaeoanthropology, I disagree with minor assumptions, suggestions or points made in the book, but these detract in no way from it. The book is less about nuance and more about the bigger picture.
This book would be a great first book for the potential student of human evolution. It gives one the necessary knowledge to get started.
This book would be a great first book for the potential student of human evolution. It gives one the necessary knowledge to get started.
October 12, 2019
A little dry. On the radio I find Chris Stringer fascinating, but when I read his work I find it dosent flow: it is, however, clear and informative. Not a text book, but quite detailed. It is up to date and describes the state of our understanding of human evolution.
March 23, 2018
Outstanding. The authors have done a fine job of condensing a very complex subject into such a compact book. The text is clear and well complimented by excellent maps, graphs and pictures.
June 7, 2020
Straightforward and informative, with great images.
April 7, 2026
As the late evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould constantly used to reiterate, the evolutionary history of life is not a ladder of progress, but rather a bush or tree with many different branches.
The authors of this very interesting and well-illustrated book show how true this is of human evolution. The hominin family tree is a very complicated mass of branches, beginning about seven million years ago when the hominin lineage split from the chimpanzee lineage.
For most of that seven million years there has been a great diversity of hominin species, with several existing at the same time. For example, over the last two million years there have been at least ten different species of the Homo genus. And a lot is still not known: with future discoveries and DNA research, the tree will almost certainly get bushier.
Only for the last 40,000 years or so has our own species, Homo sapiens, which first appeared over 200,000 years ago, been the sole surviving hominin species.
The problem is, as the authors show, that it is often difficult to know exactly what the relationships are between the various branches. For example, it is difficult to know whether a particular species is an ancestor of ours, or whether it belongs to a different side branch of the hominin tree. The result of this is that there are many disagreements among scientists about how to classify various fossils and about their evolutionary relationships.
What is clear is that upright stance developed long before the appearance of the large brain. Bipedalism came soon after the divergence of the hominin and chimpanzee lineages seven million years ago. The large brain came much later, leading to the intelligence, flexible behaviour, consciousness and art that we associate with humans. The large brain probably developed due to a combination of interacting factors: meat-eating, complex tool-making, social interaction and language. (My bet is that tool-making started off this feedback loop and that the previous development of bipedalism was important in that it had freed up the hands for the later development of complex tool-making.)
Other primates and some birds can make and use simple tools, and some pre-Homo hominins (Australopiths) might have done the same. But humans in the Homo genus took tool-making to a quantitatively and hence qualitatively different level.
As the authors mention, some scientists have in the past claimed that in the history of our own species (Homo sapiens) there was a “creative explosion” in Europe about 40,000 years ago (with the appearance of cave art etc), long after the appearance of the species itself over 200,000 years ago. They claimed that this “Great Leap Forward”/ “Human Revolution”/”Big Bang” was caused by some biological change to the brain, possibly linked to the development of language.
But this idea of some (invisible and unprovable!) biological change to the brain about 40,000 years ago has been shot down in recent years by the discovery of evidence for art and sophisticated tools dating from much earlier than the time that the “Great Leap Forward” is supposed to have happened. For example, engraved pieces of ochre have been found in Africa dating from 75,000 years ago, and decorative beads have been found, again in Africa, dating back 100,000 years.
As Stephen Oppenheimer has argued, language developed much earlier than 40,000 years ago and “...humans came out of Africa already painting.” There may even have been language and creativity in earlier species. For example, there is now evidence for Neanderthal art and possibly ritual burial; and there is also evidence that the Neanderthals could have vocalised in a similar way to Homo sapiens.
In any case, the “creative explosion” theory wrongly assumes that behavioural change must be determined by biological change. But why does cultural change have to imply a change to the brain? It is more likely that the brain had become “modern” when Homo sapiens first evolved in Africa 200,000 or more years ago, and that any later cultural change took place for non-biological reasons. After all, the development of farming 12,000 years ago, of cities and writing 5,000 years ago, and of industry 200 years ago were also “Great Leaps Forward”, but no one believes that these were the result of genetic changes to the human brain.
The final point I want to mention is that the authors refer to possible evidence of social stratification 35,000 years ago, in the form of some burials having grave goods which would have taken a lot of time to create. But, if this is so, it would surely just have been a case of respected (or at most, slightly privileged) individuals, because most evidence suggests that hunter-gatherer societies were egalitarian. Fully-fledged class differences did not appear until about 5,000 years ago, when, following the development of agriculture, “civilisations” developed in which a ruling class managed to grab the surplus created by the labouring farmers.
Overall, an excellent book. Highly recommended.
The authors of this very interesting and well-illustrated book show how true this is of human evolution. The hominin family tree is a very complicated mass of branches, beginning about seven million years ago when the hominin lineage split from the chimpanzee lineage.
For most of that seven million years there has been a great diversity of hominin species, with several existing at the same time. For example, over the last two million years there have been at least ten different species of the Homo genus. And a lot is still not known: with future discoveries and DNA research, the tree will almost certainly get bushier.
Only for the last 40,000 years or so has our own species, Homo sapiens, which first appeared over 200,000 years ago, been the sole surviving hominin species.
The problem is, as the authors show, that it is often difficult to know exactly what the relationships are between the various branches. For example, it is difficult to know whether a particular species is an ancestor of ours, or whether it belongs to a different side branch of the hominin tree. The result of this is that there are many disagreements among scientists about how to classify various fossils and about their evolutionary relationships.
What is clear is that upright stance developed long before the appearance of the large brain. Bipedalism came soon after the divergence of the hominin and chimpanzee lineages seven million years ago. The large brain came much later, leading to the intelligence, flexible behaviour, consciousness and art that we associate with humans. The large brain probably developed due to a combination of interacting factors: meat-eating, complex tool-making, social interaction and language. (My bet is that tool-making started off this feedback loop and that the previous development of bipedalism was important in that it had freed up the hands for the later development of complex tool-making.)
Other primates and some birds can make and use simple tools, and some pre-Homo hominins (Australopiths) might have done the same. But humans in the Homo genus took tool-making to a quantitatively and hence qualitatively different level.
As the authors mention, some scientists have in the past claimed that in the history of our own species (Homo sapiens) there was a “creative explosion” in Europe about 40,000 years ago (with the appearance of cave art etc), long after the appearance of the species itself over 200,000 years ago. They claimed that this “Great Leap Forward”/ “Human Revolution”/”Big Bang” was caused by some biological change to the brain, possibly linked to the development of language.
But this idea of some (invisible and unprovable!) biological change to the brain about 40,000 years ago has been shot down in recent years by the discovery of evidence for art and sophisticated tools dating from much earlier than the time that the “Great Leap Forward” is supposed to have happened. For example, engraved pieces of ochre have been found in Africa dating from 75,000 years ago, and decorative beads have been found, again in Africa, dating back 100,000 years.
As Stephen Oppenheimer has argued, language developed much earlier than 40,000 years ago and “...humans came out of Africa already painting.” There may even have been language and creativity in earlier species. For example, there is now evidence for Neanderthal art and possibly ritual burial; and there is also evidence that the Neanderthals could have vocalised in a similar way to Homo sapiens.
In any case, the “creative explosion” theory wrongly assumes that behavioural change must be determined by biological change. But why does cultural change have to imply a change to the brain? It is more likely that the brain had become “modern” when Homo sapiens first evolved in Africa 200,000 or more years ago, and that any later cultural change took place for non-biological reasons. After all, the development of farming 12,000 years ago, of cities and writing 5,000 years ago, and of industry 200 years ago were also “Great Leaps Forward”, but no one believes that these were the result of genetic changes to the human brain.
The final point I want to mention is that the authors refer to possible evidence of social stratification 35,000 years ago, in the form of some burials having grave goods which would have taken a lot of time to create. But, if this is so, it would surely just have been a case of respected (or at most, slightly privileged) individuals, because most evidence suggests that hunter-gatherer societies were egalitarian. Fully-fledged class differences did not appear until about 5,000 years ago, when, following the development of agriculture, “civilisations” developed in which a ruling class managed to grab the surplus created by the labouring farmers.
Overall, an excellent book. Highly recommended.
May 5, 2024
This is a well-illustrated, succinct overview of the entirety of human evolution in just 150 pages. It is written with a lay audience in mind, so there's not anything here that's new to the specialist, but it is well-written and up-to-date. It can easily be read in a day (in terms of words, it's essay-length). There are amazing photos within, as well. Highly recommended for non-specialists who wish to catch up with what has happened in paleoanthropology over the last (extremely busy) decade.
September 15, 2023
I had to read this book for class but I found it to be super interesting. I liked the insights into our human story and I also liked that they included multiple theories instead of just what the authors believe to be true. I also really enjoyed the pictures included because it gives a good sense about what each hominid looked like.
July 6, 2023
This is a concise, current, and well illustrated overview of human evolution based on fossil evidence. The authors are careful to point out controversy and discrepancies. Easily understood by general audiences without being simplistic.
April 18, 2022
Fascinating analysis of the history of mankind. A little scientific in places, but well illustrated and explained.
March 24, 2023
Excellent summary of hominin evolution.
April 11, 2026
Really good overview, has handy maps and diagrams as well as lots of pictures and drawings.
March 24, 2018
A very good, accessible summary of up to date finds and controversies in paleoanthropology. Its standout feature is having colour photographs of fossils and their sites.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews