Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: Lance Housley on 27/03/2011 00:30:02
-
Lance Housley asked the Naked Scientists:
Hi! It's a long time since I did any formal study on human evolution, and I get the impression that some terms I was used to have been slightly redefined, while maybe one or two new terms have been coined in the discipline. So what are the current meanings of
Hominid
Hominin
Hominoid
Anthropoid
Human etc
For instance, I was used to hearing & reading of "anatomically modern humans" which implies that (some) earlier (i.e. not anatomically modern) species could be considered human, whereas now (at least in your podcasts) it seems to mean "us and nothing but us".
I'm sure there must be other important words I have missed from my list. Is there a reliable state-of-the-art review (book/article/website etc) I could use for future reference?
Thanks for reawakening my interest!
Lance, in Devon
What do you think?