Quick facts about human evolution
Oldest discovered Homo sapiens skeletons: 315,000 years old
Where these early fossils were found: Jebel Irhoud, Morocco
What experts found: The fossil skeletons of 22 humans
In 1758, Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus gave humans a scientific name: Homo sapiens, which means "wise human" in Latin. Although Linnaeus grouped humans with other apes, it was English biologist Charles Darwin who laid out an explanation for how humans came to be. His theory of evolution, first described in 1859, explained how humans slowly changed over time to be better suited to the environments where they lived. Many of our traits, from our ability to walk on two legs to our big brains, are a result of this evolution.
