All in the Family?
3.5 million BC
-1000003 -1000003
30.00E00.00N
NAT

EAST AFRICA
	How far back can you trace your family tree?  Probably not 3.5 million years, but that is the age of some hominid footprints scientists have found.
	Such evidence indicates that hominids -- creatures that were somewhere between primates and humans -- lived in East Africa that long ago.  These ancient beings were probably scavengers who may have used stones and pieces of wood in their quest for food.
	Scientists believe that over millions of years, hominids learned to manufacture simple tools, hunt, and use fire to cook food and improve weapons.  They flourished in East and South Africa and moved into Europe and Asia, usually living in caves or rock-shelters.
	Eventually, about 100,000 years ago, a new hominid species appeared called Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. They were taller than other hominids, with shorter arms, straighter limbs, and larger brains.
	Then a mysterious thing happened around 35,000 BC.  All trace of the Neanderthals disappeared.  No one knows whether they were killed by other humans, by disease, by a failure to adapt to a warming climate, or some other cause.
	About the time the Neanderthals disappeared, Homo sapiens sapiens appeared, though scientists doubt this new group (also called Cro-Magnon man) is related to the Neanderthals. The Cro-Magnon are essentially the people of today.  Compared with the Neanderthals, they are taller, have smaller faces, smaller brains, higher foreheads, lighter skulls and straighter limbs.
	Over the years, Homo sapiens sapiens have flourished, but there are no Neanderthals on your family tree.