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As visitors wander among the fossils, tools and other artefacts in the gallery, two standout characters put a human face to the last phase of our epic evolutionary journey.

Staring into the twinkling eyes in the weathered features of the Neanderthal man, it's possible to feel a moment of connection, of recognising another fellow human (albeit of a different species).

He is based on 40,000-year-old Homo neanderthalensis remains found at Spy in Belgium.

The other gentleman in the gallery is a model of an early modern human living around 30,000 years ago, referred to by some scientists as a Cro-Magnon, who was part of the Gravettian prehistoric culture of Europe.

He is reconstructed from a male Homo sapiens skeleton from Paviland in Wales (the famous 'Red Lady' who wasn't a lady) and, since that is a partial skeleton lacking a skull, a roughly contemporaneous skull from Předmostí in the Czech Republic.

Identical twins Adrie and Alfons Kennis, who are among the world's leading prehistoric model makers, worked for six months to create the two ancient human replicas, with help from Museum scientists. The specially commissioned models blend scientific and aesthetic interpretation.

Adrie Kennis says, 'The scientists bring the knowledge and we make the characters.'

Prof Chris Stringer, human evolution expert at the Museum, was happy to inform the creation of the reconstruction.

'The models are based on the very best scientific evidence we could put together.

'When they come face-to-face with the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon men, people have as close as they can get to a real encounter,' he says, adding, 'Their faces are really alive.'

Illustrating our differences

The models help to highlight key differences between Neanderthals and an early example of our own species. Both are naked to show their physiques.

Early modern humans were taller and less stocky than Neanderthals, perhaps more suited to endurance running than short bursts of speed.

The Homo sapiens man's body proportions were similar to those of men who live in hot conditions today.

In comparison, the Neanderthal's body was suited to cold environments. But despite this, in the cold climate of the last glaciation, he would have worn animal skins to survive.

Ancient body art

When looking at the modern human, people sometimes think he has a cigarette in his mouth, but tobacco and smoking are a far more recent concept, as far as we know. The item is actually a twig paintbrush.

The man is posed as if in the middle of decorating his body. His upper legs show bold black designs and his fingers are stained with the manganese dioxide pigment he used to create them.

The markings are genuine designs by early modern humans - they were copied from engravings found on mammoth bone at Předmostí.

His lower legs are stained red with ochre. The remains this model is based on were found, in 1823, smeared with this naturally occurring iron oxide pigment and buried with periwinkle shells and fragments of ivory rods and rings.

The Neanderthal is also shown with body decoration, as evidence suggests this artistic behaviour was not unique to modern humans. In fact, body painting may have been the earliest form of art - ochre was being used at least 200,000 years ago in Africa and Europe.

Evidence indicates Neanderthals were using pigment to decorate or camouflage their bodies as long as 60,000 years ago at least.

Blocks of manganese dioxide showing clear signs of usage - including some shaped into crayons - have been found in at least 70 Neanderthal sites. They used charcoal in a similar way and apparently preferred black to red or yellow.

In search of the perfect pose

The Kennis brothers were keen to pose the humans naturally, in a way you might meet them.

'How a person stands says something about him,' explains Alfons. 'We show him doing casual things, not with a spear in a hunting pose.'

Adrie adds, 'We didn't want to make a clichéd ape-man.'

So what goes into making such models?

Forensic techniques

'What we do is palaeoart,' explains Alfons. 'We make reconstructions of extinct mammals and especially early humans.

'When human relics are discovered, people want to know what the individual would have looked like, so we reconstruct them using forensic methods.'

These techniques include layering clay over a cast of a skull, fleshing out the face using a chart that details known tissue thicknesses at particular points.

Alfons adds, 'The difference between most forensic cases and ours is that ours are very, very, very old cases.'

The brothers also need to build the replica skeleton, straightening out any distorted bones and then layering on the artificial muscles.

This is used to make a mould in which to create the models out of silicon.

'Once you put all the muscles on, it suddenly becomes very realistic,' says Alfons. 'But it's not a real character yet.'

An element of guesswork

Creating believable characters and giving faces emotion both require artistic skill.

'These aren't portraits,' explains Alfons. 'It's a broad idea of how someone would have looked.'

Try putting your hand on your face. Can you feel where your bone is very near to the skin?

According to Alfons it's easy to know what people would look like around the part of the face where the flesh is thin, when you know the skull shape. An example would be the bridge of the nose or the forehead area (called the frontal bone).

'But what brings a lots of character to a person,' clarifies Alfons, 'is the fullness of the lips, the shape of the nostrils, the shape of the tip of the nose, the folds of the eyes - and you can't know this.'

The finished models arrived at the Museum in early 2014 and were displayed in a temporary exhibition about humans in Britain. They were then incorporated into the Museum's Human Evolution gallery, which opened in December 2015.

A new challenge

Recently the Kennis brothers reconstructed the face of another modern human, Cheddar Man - the oldest nearly complete Homo sapiens skeleton found in Britain.

This pioneering reconstruction was based on DNA data generated by a team of scientists from the Museum and University College London using cutting-edge sequencing technology.

As well as providing genetic evidence of Cheddar Man's skin tone, eye colour and hair type, the Museum provided 3D scans of his skull. These were prepared using high-tech equipment originally designed for use on the International Space Station.

The scans enabled the brothers to 3D print Cheddar Man's skull, providing an accurate base for fleshing out his facial features and incorporating the results from his genetic profile.

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Bringing a Neanderthal to life: the making of our model

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As visitors wander among the fossils, tools and other artefacts in the gallery, two standout characters put a human face to the last phase of our epic evolutionary journey. Staring into the twinkling eyes in the weathered features of the Neanderthal man, it's possible to feel a moment of connection, of recognising another fellow human (albeit of a different species).

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As humans, we’re curious about ourselves. Where did we come from? How did we evolve?

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PBS Nova Documentary Collection: Iceman Murder Mystery

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Explore cave paintings in this 360° animated cave - Iseult Gillespie

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France creates replica Chauvet cave for spectacular prehistoric art - Newsnight

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Homo sapiens ( Latin: "wise man") is the scientific name for the human species.

is the human genus. H. sapiens is the only surviving species of the genus Homo.

Modern humans are sometimes called "anatomically modern humans". Homo sapiens considers itself the most influential species on the planet. However, many kinds of life, especially plants and protists, have had a much greater effect on the air, the rocks, life, and natural environment on Earth.

The recent African origin of modern humans is the mainstream model of the origin and dispersal of anatomically modern humans.

The hypothesis that humans have a single origin was published in Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man (1871). The concept is supported by a study of present-day mitochondrial DNA, and with evidence based on physical anthropology of fossil humans. According to genetic and fossil evidence, older versions of Homo sapiens evolved only in Africa, between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, with members of one branch leaving Africa by 90,000 years ago and over time replacing earlier human populations such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus.

The recent single origin of modern humans in East Africa is the near-consensus position held within the scientific community.

Sequencing of the full Neanderthal genome suggests Neanderthals and some modern humans share some ancient genetic lineages. The authors of the study suggest that their findings are consistent with Neanderthal admixture of up to 4% in some populations. The reason for this admixture is not known. In August 2012, a study suggested that the DNA overlap is a remnant of a common ancestor of both Neanderthals and modern humans.

The time frame for the evolution of the genus out of the last common ancestor is roughly 10 to 2 million years ago, that of H. sapiens out of Homo erectus roughly 1.8 to 0.2 million years ago.

Scientific study of human evolution is mostly concerned with the development of the genus Homo, but usually involves studying other hominids and hominines as well, such as Australopithecus. "Modern humans" are defined as the Homo sapiens species, of which the only living subspecies is known as Homo sapiens sapiens.

Homo sapiens idaltu, the other known subspecies, is now extinct. Homo neanderthalensis, which became extinct 30,000 years ago, has sometimes been classified as a subspecies, " Homo sapiens neanderthalensis". Genetic studies now suggest that the functional DNA of modern humans and Neanderthals diverged 500,000 years ago.

Similarly, the discovered specimens of the Homo rhodesiensis species have been classified by some as a subspecies, but this classification is not widely accepted.

Earliest fossils of the species

Until recently it was thought that anatomically modern humans first appeared in the fossil record in Africa about 195,000 years ago. Studies of molecular biology suggested that the approximate time of divergence from the common ancestor of all modern human populations was 200,000 years ago. The broad study of African genetic diversity found the ǂKhomani San people had the greatest genetic diversity among the 113 distinct populations sampled, making them one of 14 "ancestral population clusters". The research also placed the origin of modern human migration in south-western Africa, near the coastal border of Namibia and Angola.

In the 1960s an archaeological site at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco was dated as about 40,000 years old but it was re-dated in the 2000s. It is now thought to be between 300,000 and 350,000 years old. The skull form is almost identical to modern humans, though the jaw is different.

The forces of natural selection have continued to operate on human populations, with evidence that certain regions of the genome show selection in the past 15,000 years.

Images for kids

In Spanish: Homo sapiens para niños

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Its story began to take shape in late November 1974 in Ethiopia, with the discovery of the skeleton of a small female, nicknamed Lucy.

More than 40 years later, Australopithecus afarensis is one of the best-represented species in the hominin fossil record.

How Australopithecus afarensis changed our understanding of human evolution

Au. afarensis belongs to the genus Australopithecus, a group of small-bodied and small-brained early hominin species (human relatives) that were capable of upright walking but not well adapted for travelling long distances on the ground.

Species in the australopith group - which also includes Au. africanus, Au. sediba, Au. anamensis and Kenyanthropus platyops - probably gave rise to two more recent hominin groups, Homo and Paranthropus, before 2.5 million years ago.

Au. afarensis wasn't the first member of the group discovered - that was the Au. africanus from South Africa - but its discovery confirmed our ancient relatives habitually walked upright, and that this feature of the human lineage occurred long before the evolution of bigger brains.

The ability to walk upright may have offered survival benefits, such as the ability to spot dangerous predators earlier. Perhaps crucially, it left the hands free to do other tasks, such as carry food and use tools.

When did Australopithecus afarensis live?

According to the fossils recovered to date, Au. afarensis lived between 3.7 and three million years ago. This means the species survived for at least 700,000 years, more than twice as long as our own species, Homo sapiens, has been around.

Where did Australopithecus afarensis live?

Au. afarensis fossils have been unearthed in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.

Who is Lucy the Australopithecus?

Lucy was one of the first hominin fossils to become a household name. Her skeleton is around 40% complete - at the time of her discovery, she was by far the most complete early hominin known.

On 24 November 1974, palaeoanthropologist Donald Johanson was exploring the ravines and valleys of the Hadar river in the Afar region of northeastern Ethiopia when he spotted an arm bone fragment poking out of a slope.

Johanson later recounted that his pulse quickened as he realised it belonged not to a monkey but a hominin. As the team found more and more fragments, they began to appreciate that they were uncovering an extraordinary skeleton. The full excavation took three weeks.

Lucy's skeleton consists of 47 out of 207 bones, including parts of the arms, legs, spine, ribs and pelvis, as well as the lower jaw and several other skull fragments. However, most of the hand and foot bones are missing.

None of the bones were duplicates, supporting the conclusion that they came from a single individual.

The shape of the pelvic bones revealed the individual was female.

Lucy measured just 1.05 metres tall and would have weighed around 28kg. Yet an erupted wisdom tooth and the fact that certain bones were fused suggested Lucy was a young adult.

The affectionate nickname comes from the Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which was often playing from the team's tape recorder back at camp.

The formal attribution AL 288-1 is rarely used beyond academic journals. The skeleton is slightly less than 3.18 million years old.

Johanson thought Lucy was either a small member of the genus Homo or a small australopithecine. Only after analysing other fossils subsequently uncovered nearby and at Laetoli in Kenya did scientists establish a new species, Australopithecus afarensis, four years after Lucy's discovery.

At the time, Au. afarensis was the oldest hominin species known, although far older species have since been found.

How did Lucy die?

Researchers studied injuries to Lucy's bones to see whether they offered insights into how she died, publishing their findings in 2016.

CT scans revealed fractures in her shoulder joint and arms similar to those observed in people who fall from a great height, as if she reached out to break her fall. They also indicated that many of the breaks occurred perimortem, around the time of death, rather than over time as the bones became fossilised.

The researchers believe the injuries observed were severe enough that internal organs could also have been damaged. Based on their evidence, the team suggest that Lucy died falling out of a tree.

However, this conclusion is controversial and many scientists, including Johanson, say there are other plausible explanations for the breakages, such as being trampled by stampeding animals after death.

Australopithecus afarensis characteristics

Au. afarensis possessed both ape-like and human-like characteristics.The top of its skull (the cranial vault) was slightly domed and its brain was comparable in size to a chimpanzee's. Its face projected outwards, less so in females than in males.

Some Au. afarensis skull specimens show evidence this species possessed powerful chewing muscles.

The small skull, long arms and conical ribcage were like an ape's, while the spine, pelvis and knees were more human-like.

The smallest Au. afarensis adults weighed an estimated 25 kilograms, while the largest weighed about 64 kilograms.

This is a broad range, pointing to high sexual dimorphism - the difference in size and shape between males and females. Modern humans have a low level of sexual dimorphism and the two sexes look very similar, whereas gorillas are very sexually dimorphic. The difference between Au. afarensis males and females is similar to the latter.

Au. afarensis is generally depicted with body hair as it was likely lost later in human evolution.

Australopithecus teeth

Au. afarensis has a number of distinctive dental features.

In some members of the species the tooth rows diverge slightly towards the back, forming a dental arcade (the part of the mouth where teeth sit) that is neither parallel-sided as in modern apes nor more rounded as in humans.

The canine teeth of Au. afarensis are much smaller than those of chimpanzees, and they are narrower and differently shaped to those of the earlier Au. anamensis. The canine premolar honing complex has been completely lost - this is a feature present in chimpanzees and other apes outside of the hominin lineage, where the large and projecting upper canine teeth are sharpened against the lower third premolars. All known modern and fossil apes have this honing complex. Its absence, along with the presence of bipedalism, is thought to be characteristic of species on the hominin lineage.

How did Australopithecus afarensis move around?

Au. afarensis was competent at walking upright on two legs, and skeletal features indicate it did so regularly. However, it may not have walked in exactly the same way as we do or been able to walk long distances efficiently.

Anatomical features associated with upright walking are present in the spine, pelvis, legs and feet. These include a broad pelvis and a femur that is angled inwards towards the knee so that the centre of gravity lies directly above the foot.

Lucy and her species also retained some adaptations for climbing and hanging from trees. These features are seen in the shoulders, arms, wrists and hands.

It is likely that the species, particularly the smaller females, spent a significant amount of time moving around in trees. The larger males were probably less arboreal.

Au. afarensis may have foraged in the tree canopy as well as on the ground, and probably retreated to the trees at night to avoid predators and for a good night's sleep. Chimpanzees and other apes are known to build nesting platforms in tree canopies.

Laetoli footprints - a snapshot in time

The site of Laetoli in Tanzania preserves the oldest known hominin footprints. Nearly 3.7 million years ago, a volcanic eruption covered the landscape with a layer of fine ash. Rain created a surface like wet cement and, before it hardened, a variety of animals wandered across it. Further eruptions covered the footprints they left behind, preserving them for posterity.

More than 20 species left tracks, including rhinoceroses, giraffes and baboons.

In 1978, two years after the first animal prints were uncovered, palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey excavated a 27-metre-long trail made by hominins, consisting of about 70 footprints. They were attributed to Au. afarensis, to this day the most likely candidate as only this species has been found at Laetoli.

According to the close spacing of the footprints, the hominins who made them had short legs. The prints resemble those of modern humans, with an arch and a big toe aligned with the other toes. Their steps were also similar to those of modern humans, with the heel touching the ground first and weight transferring to the ball of the foot before the toes push the foot off the ground. Biomechanical analysis suggests the bipedal gait was not entirely modern though, and that the leg may have been slightly more bent at the knee as the foot hit the floor.

The impressions left in the ash reveal that a small group - with different sized feet - were walking from south to north. At least one smaller individual was walking behind and stepping into the footprints made by a larger individual.

Nearly forty years later, another set of footprints was found 150 metres from the original trail. These were made by two individuals, one of whom was much taller and heavier, walking in the same direction as the original group. Perhaps a single social group made the two trails, possibly a large male walking with females and children.

What did Australopithecus afarensis eat?

Various lines of evidence suggest that Au. afarensis ate a slightly different diet to that of earlier hominins.

Carbon isotope values in tooth enamel reveal that Au. afarensis is currently the earliest hominin species showing evidence for a more diverse diet that included savannah-based foods such as sedges or grasses, as well as a more traditional diet based on fruits and leaves from trees and shrubs.

Some of the anatomical changes compared to the earlier species Au. anamensis suggest there was a change in diet towards foods that were harder or tougher over time, as Au. afarensis has adaptations for heavy chewing.

Did Australopithecus afarensis use tools?

Since our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, as well as other apes and monkeys, have been observed making and using simple tools, it is likely that all hominins made use of tools to some extent.

No tools have yet been directly associated with Au. afarensis. However, Australopithecus species had hands that were well suited for the controlled manipulation of objects, and they probably did use tools.

The oldest known stone tools are around 3.3 million years old and were unearthed in Kenya. These Lomekwian tools were made from volcanic rock and crafted into cores, flakes and potential anvils. Although Au. afarensis is known from Kenya around this time, the most likely candidate for the toolmaker is another species called Kenyanthropus platyops, as specimens of this hominin have been found close to where the tools were excavated.

A small number of animal bones found at Dikika in Ethiopia, have been reported as showing cut marks made by stone tools. They have been dated to about 3.4 million years ago and the team involved attribute the butchery to Au. afarensis,as this is the only species known to live in the area at this time. However, the conclusions are contentious. If they withstand scrutiny, this would be the earliest evidence of meat-eating behaviour by a hominin.

Important Australopithecus afarensis fossils

A number of other significant Au. afarensis finds have been made in addition to Lucy and the Laetoli footprints.

Knee, AL 129 1a + 1b
Uncovered in 1973, this was the first hominin fossil found at Hadar in Ethiopia. The anatomy of the knee joint indicated it belonged to a species that walked on two legs and, at the time, it was the oldest evidence of a biped. It encouraged Johanson's team to return to the area, where they found Lucy the following year.

Lower jaw, LH 4
This jaw bone containing nine teeth was discovered in 1974 by Mary Leakey at Laetoli in Tanzania. It was designated the type specimen forAu. afarensis, making it the specimen that officially represents the species and to which other potential Au. afarensis fossils need to be compared.

The first family, AL 333
In 1975, more than 200 hominin fossils were unearthed from Hadar. They represent at least 13 individuals, including four children. Scientists think they were probably related. The specimens support the notion that Au. afarensis was significantly sexually dimorphic. Other than their size, the group showed nearly identical anatomical features, showing they were all the same species. Whatever disaster befell the group, it happened around 3.2 million years ago.

Kadanuumuu, KSD-VP-1/1
Unearthed in Ethiopia between 2005 and 2009, this partial skeleton is similarly complete to Lucy but much older, dating to about 3.6 million years ago. It belonged to a male that was about 1.6 metres tall, about 30% bigger than Lucy. The nickname Kadanuumuu means 'Big Man' in the Afar language.

Due to the lack of skull or dental parts to compare with theAu. afarensis type specimen, some scientists question whether Kadanuumuu can be assigned to this species.

Selam, an Australopithecus afarensis child, DIK-1-1
An almost complete skeleton of a tinyAu. afarensis child was found at Dikika in Ethiopia in 2006. More than five years of painstaking excavation revealed previously unknown aspects of the species. CT scans of the skull showed the child's dental development was similar to a three-year-old chimpanzee. From the lack of marks from predators or scavengers, it appears the child died naturally or in an accident and was quickly buried, perhaps by a flash flood.

This article includes information from Our Human Story by Dr Louise Humphrey and Prof Chris Stringer.

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Australopithecus afarensis is one of the best-known early hominins thanks to an extraordinary skeleton known as Lucy. Find out what we've learned about this species and important fossils. How do we know that Lucy and her species walked upright? How do we know Lucy was female? How did she die?

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The study of human origins, or beginnings, involves figuring out how and when human beings began to exist. Scientists have many different theories about human origins. But…

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What Happened Before History? Human Origins