Humans belong to the primate order and to the suborder Anthropoidea. Humans are also part of the Catarrhini infraorder, the superfamily Hominoidea and the Hominidea family, with the other members of this family the Hylobatidae (gibbons) and the Pongidae (great apes).

It has been agreed among all scholars that the Australopithecines were definitely part of the Hominidae group which includes the genus Homo. It is believed by scholars that Australopithecines were the first step in the evolution of the genus homo, however which species has yet to be verified.

It is within the genus homo that human evolution is well documented due to good fossil preservation. It is known that the first species in the line towards humans is that of Homo habilis. Next there was the species of Homo erectus, then Archaic Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and finally with the appearance of Cro-Magnon man, the Homo sapiens sapiens (modern Humans).