What's Hot in Human Origins?
What Does It Mean To Be Human?
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Visit the Exhibit
Featured Research
'Hobbits' on Flores, Indonesia
New digs and geological dating in Liang Bua Cave, Indonesia, show that Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the “hobbit” for its small size, became extinct around 50,000 years ago – tens of thousands of years earlier than originally thought.
For Teachers
AP Biology Curriculum Materials
Are you an AP Biology teacher? Click here for freely downloadable curriculum materials aligned to the AP learning objectives that use human case studies to teach core evolutionary principles and a resource to help teachers create a comfortable and supportive classroom environment for teaching evolution.
Lesson Plans
Human Evolution: Religious Perspectives
The Hall of Human Origins offers a welcoming place to explore one of the most exciting areas of science, the study of human evolution. Despite strong public interest in the science, however, many people find this topic troubling when viewed from a religious perspective. Representatives of diverse religious communities encourage a larger, more respectful understanding of both the scientific evidence and religious belief.
Featured Media
How To Tell a Rock from a Stone Tool
How can you tell if a rock is actually an early stone tool? Watch this video to find out.
Designing the Exhibition
This video takes you behind-the-scenes into the process of designing and building the Smithsonian's Hall of Human Origins.
Fun Facts
Why do paleoanthropologists love Lucy?
In 1974, paleoanthropologist Dr. Donald Johanson discovered a 3.2 million-year-old skeleton with both ape-like and human-like qualities in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Known scientifically as Australopithecus afarensis, in the Ethiopian language of Amharic she is called “Dinkenesh”, which means “you are beautiful”. In English, we call her “Lucy”. So why do we love Lucy so much? It’s because we see signs of humanity in her, such as a body built for walking upright on two legs, just like us!