Archaic humans is a broad category denoting all species of the genus Homo that are not Homo sapiens (modern humans), which are sometimes also called Homo sapiens sapiens, in which case the singular use of sapiens has been applied to some archaic humans as well. Among the earliest modern human remains are those from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco (about 315 ka), Florisbad in South Africa (259 ka), Omo-Kibish I (Omo I) in southern Ethiopia (c. 233 or 195 ka), and Apidima Cave in Southern Greece (210 ka). Some examples of archaic humans include H. antecessor (1200–770 ka), H. bodoensis (1200–300 ka), H. heidelbergensis (600–200 ka), Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis; 430–40 ka), H. rhodesiensis (300–125 ka) and Denisovans (H. denisova; 285–52 ka).
Traditionally, the hominins after the middle Pleistocene (middle Homo) belong to Homo sapiens. This entire group is referred to as late Homo, which in turn is broken down into three temporal groups: early archaic Homo (or, transitional types), late archaic (including Neanderthals), and anatomically modern Homo sapiens.