Homo Habilis Essay

bodies and flourished during a warmer interglacial period. There was great anatomical variation within this population. There is evidence that they took care of injured associates and sometimes carried out burials. Fossil remains provide evidence that they moved in small groups possibly occupying areas seasonally and subsisting by hunting big game such as reindeer. As they did not use bows and arrows, or other projectiles, hunting such big game would have required a group strategy. Animal bones

Homo erectus was first found in Africa and the fossilized remains dated 1.8 and 1.0 million years old. The Homo erectus traits are very similar toward the modern human traits. Homo erectus brain size was smaller than the Homo sapiens. Homo erectus had a brain size of approximately 650 cc and Homo sapiens had a brain size of approximately 1251

In the quest to explain human origins it is necessary to find a species that bridges modern man (Homo sapiens) with the apes. To fill this gap evolutionists have set forth Homo erectus, who lived approximately 400,000 to 1.6 million years ago (Johanson and Shreeve1989). Although the distinctions are somewhat vague, below the neck, Homo sapiens and Homo erectus are practically Identical and Homo erectus was responsible for pioneering the use of standard tools (such as the hand axe), big-game hunting, and the use of fire (Johanson and Shreeve1989).

Hunting was important to the early man. This was how they would find food and the necessities that they needed from animals. In document #1, the cave painting found in Lascaux, France, shows a herd of deer attacking a group of people that have bows and arrows. The painting shows the human figures using the bows and arrows to attack and kill the deer. This evidence may suggest that this group of people are nomadic; meaning they migrate to areas where a food source is available. A quote by Jacob Bronowski’s documentary, The Ascent of Man, in

Early people were hunter-gatherers. They ate large and small birds, fish, mice, grasshoppers, crabs, snails, mollusks, fruit, nuts, wild cereals, vegetables, fungi, and other plants.

These stone tool might have served as a chopper, useful in cutting wood, cracking nuts, or breaking open bones for their marrow.One advance was the development of composite tools, like the spear.To maintain a successful Hunting/Gathering economy, these early modern humans had to be mobile. That is, they had to be able to relocate often and quickly. Hunter/Gatherers could not afford to gather possessions. They had no pack animals to help them carry loads

animals. We also know they lived in a land of little wood and water. The

In the upper levels we see a number of fragmented bone which may suggest that they began to eat more from each animal killed. Perhaps animals became scarce therefore they began to explore the taste of bone marrow.

advantages to open new opportunities for the early primates that allowed to crack up bones and nuts for food. Likewise, these tools were both found with Australopithecus boisei that shared the same terrain during the same time period with the Homo habilis. “If australopithecines were equally skillful, then [the explanation that there is an association with intelligence and tool making would] fail” (Lewin and Foley 293). These tools both found with the Australopithecines and homo species pushed new theories into action about how humans succeeded into what they are currently. Also, one very unusual specimen was found in the island of Flores. A new species that taught that scientific community to reevaluate the human evolution and how they became

These tools were relatively sophisticated compared to their contemporaries. “The Mousterian stone tool industry of Neanderthals is characterized by sophisticated flake tools that were detached from a prepared stone core. This innovative technique allowed flakes of predetermined shape to be removed and fashioned into tools from a single suitable stone” (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). The culture of toolmaking was important to the Neanderthals and the evidence for crossbreeding suggests that the Neanderthals may have also learned or taught tool-making to other

Homo floresiensis, aka the human homonin is a small-bodied hominin species that is dated to between 95,000 and 17,000 years ago. Known from a single cave on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, H. floresiensis displays a surprising combination of cranial features that resemble those of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens,

here is an argument as to which Australopithecine gave rise to the genus homo. Evidence indicates that it was Australopithecus Sediba. The species lived 1.9 million years ago and greatly resembled Homo. According to Erin Wayman in his article Fossil Finds Complicate Search for Human Ancestor scientists still don't fully agree on where A. Sediba fits in the human family tree, but there is evidence to support it is possible ancestor. The study of two skeletons, on male one female, found in Malapa Cave in South Africa show that: the shape of the frontal lobe of the males brain is very similar to that of Homo. Also the pelvis had a mix of australopithecine- and homo-like traits leading scientists to believe they spend more time walking around and

within their lifestyles. They slowly learned to eat foods such as nuts, grains, roots, and

The next species to appear were the Homo erectus which might have descended from Homo habilis. They were the first human whose fossils were found outside of Africa. They also had larger brain than the species before them. Homo sapiens sapiens came after the Homo Neanderthalensis; they are the only human species around. This could have been due to the result of increase brain sizes that allows more cognitive abilities that help them adapt to different environment changes and hence survive. Global evidence have been found of art, music, and culture and advanced tool making. In Mithen’s 3 phase of mind proposes that the shape of the Neanderthals’ frontal lobe was similar to the one of the modern Homo sapiens and this indicated that they were able to cope with complex cognitive functioning. Evidence for this could be explained using the phonological approach by Frank Gall (1758-1828).

Upon investigating the bones Schmerling did not recognize them as a distinct species (Sawyer et al. 2007).The first true Neanderthal was discovered in the Neander Valley, near Dusseldorf in 1856 by a group of miners who were blasting out a cave in the area. When the crew uncovered archaic bones they contacted a local schoolteacher, Johann Karl Fuhlrott. Fuhlrott was the first to recognize the fossils as a new species. In 1864, William King in the Quarterly Journal of Science identified this new species as Homo neanderthalensis after the location of its unearthing (Sawyer et al. 2007).