For about the last thirty thousand years, modern humans, or Homo sapiens , have been the only human species walking the Earth. Many tens of thousands of years or more later, Homo sapiens began creating sophisticated stone hand-axes from rock cores and mastered the use of fire for cooking, staying warm, guarding against predators, and creating…

But not only did several different human species once share the planet; they also evolved from much older and very different ancestors who began forging the path of global migration that modern humans later followed. They used their keen ability to produce a variety of sounds to construct languages that allowed them to communicate complex ideas and pass important information to later generations.

Homo sapiens — modern humans, members of the genus Homo who emerged in Africa first and later migrated to other areas. Acheulean tools — stone tools made by carefully chipping away flakes of the stone core to make them into teardrop-shaped implements that replaced the cruder Oldowan hand-axes. animism — the belief that a degree of spirituality exists not only in people but also in plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena. Homo erectus — a member of the genus Homo who emerged in East Africa around two million years ago, living entirely on the ground and walking exclusively in an upright position.