The most famous member of the Australopithecus afarensis species created a stir in 1974 with the discovery of a 3.5 million-years-old fossil named "Lucy" in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Lucy is the oldest known ancestor of humans who walked upright. Her remarkably well-preserved knees, pelvis and skull are more similar to a human's bones than an ape's. Lucy stood 1 meter tall with long arms and a v-shaped jaw. Fossils beloing to two more Australpithecus species, A. robusts and A. boisei, have since been discovered in Tanzania.
Like Lucy, the Australopithecus africanus does not even belong to the same genus as humans -- homo -- but it is an important ancestor in human evolutionary history. Its name literally means the "The Southern African Ape." A fossil belonging to the species was first discovered in South Africa in 1924 by Raymod Dart. It was dated at 3 million years old, and paleontologists believe it to be the link between apes and humans. Based on the fossil records of A. africanus, scientists believe that the pre-human species was mostly vegetarian and did not know how to use tools.
The Java Man was the first fossil of its kind found in the Indonesian island of Java. It belongs to the Homo erectus species, and it is remarkable for being the first direct human ancestor to have traveled out of Africa. Another H. erectus species was found in China and was called Peking Man. They were found with stone tools beside their skeletons. Fossil evidence suggests they hunted and scavenged for food.
The neanderthal fossil was the first human fossil discovered. They were originally discovered in the Neander valley in Germany but they've also been found in Israel, Croatia and Portugal. As suggested by the scientific name, they belonged to the same species as humans, but a different sub-species. They existed from 300,000 years ago until 25,000 years ago. They went extinct for an unknown reason, although one hypothesis says they interbred with humans and merged species. Fossil evidence suggests that the neanderthals used fire, mourned the dead and used medicine.