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The primate family hominidae consists of two commonly accepted genera, Australopithecus and Homo. However, two other genera are proposed. The genus Ardipithecus has recently been described and placed as the earliest common ancestor to all hominids. Also, others accept the genus Paranthropus that I will here include as a member of the genus Australopithecus. I will outline the hominid family as having three genera, Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, and Homo.

When considering human origins it’s important to keep in mind the nature and structure of the primate evolutionary tree. Primates are the product of significant mammalian adaptive radiations which occurred throughout the early Tertiary, ~ 70–50 mya (millions of years ago). Within the development of extant (living) primates, there have also been several adaptive radiations (~ 50 mya-present). The emergence of hominids came from a common ancestor of extant apes and humans from approximately 6–7 mya. Modern apes, (chimpanzees), are not our immediate ancestors or progenitors but rather more appropriately, our siblings. We both exist in the temporal present and have only morphologically distinct parent taxa to serve as a common ancestor. According to this view, the australopithecines, like the ardipithecines, are hominid radiations. One species-level taxa from the ardipithecines gave rise to the australopithecine radiation. Likewise, from this radiation came one Australopithecus species that gave rise to the Homo lineage.

The latter family includes species such as H. habilis, H. erectus and H. sapiens. The relationship between the three commonly accepted species of Homo is subject to some controversy as recent analyses have concluded australopithecine affinities of H. habilis. Some view the emergence of H. erectus as the hallmark of the modern human race. This view is attractive for those wishing to argue regional continuity of H. erectus in Eurasia with modern human populations. This regional approach posits that the various species of hominids out of Africa are members of the same lineage, only separated by time.
Ardipithecus:

Human Evolution.swf / Evolusi Manusia

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Animal fossils are often bones that have been turned to rock.  Sometimes part of the flesh is preserved, but most of the time only skeletons remain.  Because of this, it is more difficult to find fossils of invertebrates. (Invertebrates are animals that don’t have bones.)

The Record of Fossils Animals: The first animals appeared 600 million years ago during the early Cambrian Period (Article: The Geologic Record of Animal Fossils)

Why are Animal Fossils Rare: It has been estimated that 99% of any plant or animal species that ever existed is extinct now and never left a trace in the fossil record. (Article: The Rarity of Animal Fossils and Formation of Animal Fossils) 

Animal Fossil.swf / Fosil Binatang.swf

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Human evolution is the phenotypic history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids ("great apes") and mammals. The study of human evolution uses many scientific disciplines, including physical anthropology, primatology, archaeology, linguistics and genetics.

The term "human" in the context of human evolution refers to the genus Homo, but studies of human evolution usually include other hominids, such as the Australopithecines, from which the genus Homo had diverged by about 2.3 to 2.4 million years ago in Africa. Scientists have estimated that humans branched off from their common ancestor with chimpanzees about 5–7 million years ago. Several species and subspecies of Homo evolved and are now extinct, introgressed or extant. Examples include Homo erectus (which inhabited Asia, Africa, and Europe) and Neanderthals (either Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) (which inhabited Europe and Asia). Archaic Homo sapiens evolved between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago.

The dominant view among scientists concerning the origin of anatomically modern humans is the hypothesis known as "Out of Africa", recent African origin of modern humans, ROAM, or recent African origin hypothesis,[4][5][6] which argues that Homo sapiens arose in Africa and migrated out of the continent around 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, replacing populations of Homo erectus in Asia and Neanderthals in Europe.

Human Evolution.swf / Evolusi Manusia