Other Humans: Three Reconstructions
Three AI reconstructions of ancient human relatives, with a few facts about each.
I got curious about what other kinds of humans looked like, so I read up on them and tried making AI-generated family portraits.
Human evolution wasn't a straight line from ape to modern human. It was more like a branching tree: different human species shared ancestors, evolved separately and sometimes lived at the same time. Today only one human species survives — Homo sapiens, us.
Neanderthals — Homo neanderthalensis
Neanderthals lived in Europe and western Asia. They were strongly built, with prominent brow ridges and broad noses. They made stone tools, used fire, hunted large animals and, judging by archaeological evidence, cared for sick or injured group members.
They disappeared around 40,000 years ago. We don't know exactly why; climate changes, small populations and the spread of Homo sapiens may all have played a part.
But they left a genetic legacy. Our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals, and most people living outside Africa today have roughly 1–2% Neanderthal ancestry in their DNA. They weren't a primitive version of us, but close relatives.
Denisovans
In 2008, archaeologists found a tiny finger bone in Denisova Cave in Siberia. Scientists later studied its ancient DNA — the molecule that carries inherited biological information — and identified a previously unknown group of humans.
Denisovans interbred with ancestors of some modern populations in Asia and Oceania. A gene variant inherited from Denisovans even helps Tibetans cope with the low oxygen levels found high in the mountains.
But we still know very little about what Denisovans looked like, because so few fossils have been found.
Flores Man — Homo floresiensis
On the Indonesian island of Flores lived humans who stood about one metre tall. They were nicknamed “hobbits”. Their brains were much smaller than ours, yet they made stone tools.
One possible explanation for their size is island evolution: on islands with limited resources, large animals sometimes evolve smaller bodies over many generations. The youngest known Homo floresiensis fossils are about 60,000 years old.
The portraits
I asked AI to generate family portraits of all three groups. But these aren't accurate pictures of the past. Bones can reveal height and some facial features; DNA sometimes tells us more. Hairstyles, clothing and expressions are largely guesswork.
Denisovan appearance is especially uncertain. The “Homo longi” label on one image reflects a hypothesis, not an established identification with Denisovans.
These portraits are a way of imagining ancient humans as living people, not scientifically exact reconstructions.