Transcript Homo Habilis - Earth-G9

The Race to Super Hominid
Which species will it be?
by Keshi Taryan-Kigel
The Frontrunner
3.0 to 2.0 million years BCE
2.2 to 1.0 million years BCE
2.2 to 1.6 million years BCE
What made him so great?
• our direct ancestor
• first member of genus
homo
• larger brain size
• used tools
• lived cooperatively
Physical appearance
• brain size at least 650 cc.,
larger than
australopithecines
• Broca’s area found in brain,
so H. habilis maybe spoke.
• about 127 cm (5’0”) tall
• about 45 kg (100 lb) in
weight
• reduced molars and
premolars
• bi-pedal foot structure
Handy man!
• first of our ancestors to use
tools: sticks, rocks, etc.
• sharp-edged flakes of stone
called Oldowan tools used to
cut meat off carcass
• used tools to dig in dry
savannah soil for roots, bulbs,
tubers
• beginning of technological
thought
A Socialite
• men hunted in groups for
large prey
• women gathered
vegetables while carrying
infants
• shared food
• division between male and
female roles
• lots of cooperation
Where was this winner
discovered?
• H. habilis first
discovered in Olduvai
Gorge in Tanzania by the
Leakeys
• fossils and tools also
found in Kenya,
Ethiopia, and South
Africa
Hey! Are you a cheater?!
• Some scientists used to not believe H. habilis
existed as a species because of the wide range of
variation in specimens
The unexpected winner!
•not as wide-ranging as erectus:
only Africa
•Not as great an adventurer as
“upright man”, who went to
Eurasia
•didn’t know how to use fire
•didn’t make as sophisticated
tools as erectus did
2 to 0.4 million years BCE