I originally posted this here on Steemit years ago
https://steemit.com/earth/@marsresident/humanity-part-2-the-fossil-record

Humanity Part 1, if you haven't read it yet.

https://steemit.com/earth/@marsresident/humanity

People talk about "The Fossil Record" but no one ever has a record to show you. So I made a giant list. The reason we have mostly skulls is because they are made to handle impact and seem to last longer than any other part of the body. And many of these were found in places that no one had ever found anything. These people usually just go out to some place random country that someone else found something in and look around the desert or mountains, etc. Modern Humans are most notable for our teeth, which marks the true shift in to the modern type of humans. Eventually mummies became the best way for Archaeologists to get a "snapshot in time". Also, do not think of it as "They were evolving to eventually become us", the way we came about is by Species mixing, and mutants being created, and recombination happening after separation of Species, and mainly mutants with new immune systems, or teeth, or finger muscle, or eye cell, or brain capacity.

(the colors of these people are not meant to represent the fossil record, it is just the only one online that shows both male and female evolution)

I am going to start with the DNA record, which comes from studying the DNA of various different peoples. Everyone from Western and Eastern Urban residents, to tribes living on Islands above Australia, to the Native Americans.

There have been various DNA discoveries that have showed us more and more about humanity. The oldest traces of DNA that can be found in an ancient person that can be found in people today is from the "Pit of Bones" in Spain, which is located at the Atapuerca Mountains. This DNA was found to have been related to the "Denisovans" which as you will see later, used to interbreed with modern humans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atapuerca_Mountains

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/pit-bones-yields-oldest-human-dna/story?id=21093890

Then there is "Mitochondrial Eve" which is a theoretical mother of humanity that has been found by looking in to the human genome. And this has also allowed us to map where we think humans traveled. Looking in to the genome also allows scientists to look for cataclysmic events, which are marked by small populations meaning not many choices in mates aka not a big gene pool at certain times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve

Then there was the discovery of Denisovans, which actually came before the Pit of Bones discovery. And when they tested Denisovan DNA, they found that it had traces of modern human DNA.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/denisovan-genome/

Then around 40,000 years ago, thanks to Tianyuan cave we see that people in Asia were related to Native Americans. And the DNA of the Clovis boy backs this up.

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/6/2223.short

And Siberian DNA found in Malta, shows that 24,000 years ago Siberians were related to Native Americans.

http://geogenetics.ku.dk/latest-news/malta/

Then comes the native Brazilian "Indians" that had Polynesian DNA.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/brazil-polynesia-link-dna-skulls_n_2999690.html

The Fossil Record

Sahelanthropus 7 Million years ago

Orririn 6.1-5.7 Million years ago

Ardi 4.4 Million

Laetoli Footprints, first evidence of walking upright 3.6 Million years ago

Australopithecus Bahrelghazali (Abel) 3.6 Million years ago

Kenyathropus 3.5 Million years ago

Little Foot Fossil 3.3 Million years ago

Lucy's Baby 3.3 Million years ago

Lucy 3.2 Million years ago

AL-200-1 3 Million years ago

STS-14 2.7 Million years ago

Mrs. Ples 2.5 Million years ago

Taung Child 2.5 Million years ago

The Black Skull 2.5 Million years ago

STS-71 2.5 Million years ago

Nutcracker Man 2 Million years ago

Homo Habilis 1.4-2.3 Million years ago

KNM-ER-1813 1.9 Million years ago

KNM-ER-1470 1.9 Million years ago

D2700 Dmansi Skull 1.8 Million years ago

OH24 "Twiggy" 1.8 Million years ago

KNM-ER-3733 1.8 Million years ago

TM-1517 1.7 Million years ago

Yuanmou Man 1.7 Million years ago

KNM-ER-406 1.7 Million years ago

KNM-ER-3883 1.6 Million years ago

KNM-ER-992 1.5 Million years ago

Turkana Boy 1.5 Million years ago

Daka Skull 1 Million years ago

Gran Dolina 780,000-800,000 years ago

Peking Man 750,000 years ago

Petralona Cave Man 700,000 years ago

Bodo 600,000 years ago

Mauer 1 600,000 years ago

Denisovan DNA 40,000-700,000 years ago

Tautavel Man 450,000 years ago

Miguelon 400,000 years ago

Alta Mura Man 400,000 years ago

Swanscombe Man 400,000 years ago

Spanish DNA 400,000 years ago from the "Pit of Bones"

Pit of Bones 350,000 years old murder scene

Steinheim Skull 350,000 years ago

Kabwe Homo Rhodesiensis 125,000-300,000 years ago

Bontnewydd 230,000 years ago

Dali Skull 200,000 years ago

Mitochondrial Eve 100,000-200,000 years ago

Omo Remains 195,000 years ago

Idaltu 160,000 years ago

Krapina Fossils 100,000-127,000 years ago

Klasies River Caves 125,000 years ago

Tabun Cave Woman 120,000 years ago

Skhuland Qafzeh Hominids 80,000-100,000 years ago

Homo Floresienses 13,000-94,000 years ago

Shanider Cave 60,000-80,000 years ago

(This is the Stereotypical Neanderthal Cave Man that you think of)

La Farrassie 1 10,000-50,000 years ago

La Chapelle Aux Saints 60,000 years ago

Mungo Man 50,000 years ago

http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/bbfb1f24efb7ca4b47d83176ede80cc8

Le Moustier 45,000 years ago

Neanderthal 1 40,000 years ago

http://www.dinocasts.com/images/products/Homo_neanderthalensis640(1).jpg

Pestra Cu Oase 37,800 years ago

Hofmeyr Skull 37,000 years ago

Gibraltar 1 30,000-50,000 years ago

Kent's Cavern 35,000 years ago

Red Lady of Paviland 33,000 years ago

Yamashita Cave Men 32,000 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamashita_Cave_Man

Cro Magnon 1 27,500 years ago

Predmost 3 25,000-30,000 years ago

Clogg's Cave 17,000 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloggs_Cave

Minatogawa Man 15,000 years ago

Eve of Naharon 13,600 years ago

Luzia Woman 11,500 years ago

Kow Swamp Site 6,000-13,000 BC

La Brea Woman 10,000 years ago

Minnesota Woman 8,000 years ago

Uan Muhuggiag 5,000-8,000 years ago

Bog Bodies 9,000 BC to present

Spirit Cave Mummy 9,400 years old

Combe Capelle 7575 BC

Cheddar Man 7150 BC

Chinchorro Mummies 1800-7020 BC

Tepexpan Man 4,700-10,000 years old

Otzi 3,300 BC

3,600 Year Old Egyptian Mummy

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/africa/egypt-mummy-discovery/

Tarim Mummies 1,800 BC

Egtvedgirl 1390 BC

Ramses II 1213 BC

Everyone on planet Earth has 4-6% Neanderthal DNA, except for the people of Sub-Saharan Africa, who are 100% Homo Sapien; and the people of Papua New Guinea also have Denisovan DNA.