| Paleoanthropologists | scientists who study fossil evidence of human evolution |
| Hominids | a group that comprimises humans and their immediate ancestors |
| Pelvis | hipbone; can indicate whether an organism walked upright |
| Primate | a member of the order Primates, the mammalian order that includes humans |
| Anthropoid Primate | one of a subgroup of primates that includes monkeys and apes |
| Prosimian Primate | a suborder of modern primates that includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers |
| Prehensile | grasping, as in a primate's hand, foot, tail |
| Opposable Thumb | a thumb that can be positioned opposite the other fingers |
| Dental Formula | number and arrangement of teeth |
| Great Ape | a gibbon, orangutan, gorilla, or chimpanzee |
| Bipedalism | the ability to walk primarilyon two legs |
| Quadrupedal | organisms that walk on four limbs |
| Australopithecines | early hominid from the genus Australopithecus |
| Lucy | unofficial female Australopithecus fossil |
| Multiregional Hypothesis | suggests regional differences in phenotype have been developing for well over a million years |
| Recent-African-Origin Hypothesis | states that Homo sapiens originated in Africa only about 100,000 to 200,000 years ago and then, like Homo erectus before them, left Africa |