pre- and early humans

Vormensch – human ancestor
Frühmensch – early hominid

4. Die Abstammung des Menschen
In weiteren Stadien seiner marinen Entwicklung glich der Vormensch einer Meduse… Der obere Pol diente als Schwimmer : eine von Gas gefüllte Blase, die in den flachen Lagunen des Präkambriums eine Hinauf- und Hinunterbewegung gestattete. Bei Verhärtung der Zellenwand der Blase entstand die Hirnkapsel, dann der endgültige Kopf… Das Gehirn selbst wurde später durch eingewanderte Nervenzellen und Fasern aus dem Bereich des Neuralrohres gebildet
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/initial.bipedalism/pdf/bipedia22.pdf

Anthropologists have discovered the remains of the earliest known human ancestor in Ethiopia, dating to between 5.2 and 5.8 million years ago and which predate the previously oldest-known fossils by almost a million years. The previous discovery of the 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus was up to this point the oldest known hominid, the primate zoological family that includes all species on the human side of the evolutionary split with chimpanzees.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/07/010712080134.ht...

is the accepted term

"The face is flat with prominent cheekbones, but without the protruding brow ridge of pre-human ancestors or Neanderthals."

NPR: Oldest Human Fossils Found

(http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1295624.ht...


"Syntheses of regional archaeological records admit interpretations of the activities of our early human ancestors, and inter-regional comparisons set the stage for study of similarities and differences in adaptive responses."

Amazon.com editorial book review

(www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/ detail/-/0415117631?v=glance)

not English but scientific

Webster "1 capitalized a : a hypothetical group of extinct primates intermediate between man and the anthropoid apes b : a genus of extinct primitive men that includes two generally accepted species (P. erectus and P. robustus) known from skull and other bone fragments found in Javanese Pliocene gravels and sometimes the very similar Peking man and that comprises forms having a profile like that of an ape with very low forehead and undeveloped chin, a posture approaching that of modern man, and a brain of 900 to 1000 cubic centimeters which is larger than that of any known ape and smaller than that of any normal modern man compare SINANTHROPUS
2 plural pithecanthropi \-*p*, -(*)p*\ : an individual of the group or genus Pithecanthropus"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs 51 mins (2004-04-06 08:56:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I arrived at this conclusion based on Duden for \"Vormensch=Pithekanthropus\"