Modern man (homo sapiens ) have evolved from ancestors which were common to both apes and humans.
Dryopithecus is considered to be the common ancestor of apes and man.
dryopithecus evolved to Ramapithecus.
then a series of ancestors were present.. like
australopithecus, homo habilis, homo erectus java man, Peking man, Heidelberg man, Neanderthal man and lastly cro-magnon man.
crop magnon man was then evolved to become the modern man.
In evolution we can observe that the main difference in the cranial capacity. the cranial capacity increased with evolution of man.
we can also observe the development of culture, hunting habits, and tool making skills.
dryopithecus and Neanderthal man are not considered to be in a direct line of evolution of the modern homo sapiens ( modern man)