In this edition of the Evolution of Life series, we meet one of our oldest ancestors – Paranthropus.

During the Quaternary period, an era dating back roughly two and a half million years and continuing to this day, several phases of glaciation (commonly known as ice ages) changed the climate and sea level to such an extent that they had a lasting impact on the global environment. These variations led to a rapid evolution in life. An example of this was the evolution of Hominidae or Hominins, the family of ancient apes which we evolved from. Paranthropus is one of our earliest ancestors to use tools and fire and became extinct around 600,000 years ago as other species of Hominins gradually took over.

This “Grand Dad” of mankind is now featured on impressively detailed half gram gold .9999 coin with a diameter of 11 mm.