> Ray did you really just want to say the genus homo? as in Homo erectus. Yes, prior hominids were very different than those ( Homo) that appeared at the beginning of the Pleistocene. Homo Sapiens first appeared about 400,000 years ago. All of these Human creatures were evolved to fill a particular ecological niche - the ice age. Ray Audette Author "NeanderThin" http://www.neanderthin.com