Homo habilis

The skilful/handy human

Sometime about 2.4 million years ago, the Homo habilis evolved, the — in English — skilful/handy human. They populated parts of the African continent until about 1.4 million years ago.1

Their name comes from the anatomy of the hand: Homo habilis humans were probably able to place their thumb opposite the other fingers. This made a precise grip possible. — Have you ever observed a baby learning how to coordinate all fingers and thumbs? That’s quite a task!

Not yet a hunter

We regard them already as prehistoric humans. Their diet consisted of plants, but carrion and bone marrow were also on the menu.2 As they were not yet direct hunters, they rather went for the leftovers of larger predators. Therefore they walked already longer distances in an upright way. All this meant that they not only developed slightly larger bodies than Lucy, but also larger brains.3 Can you imagine what their day-to-day life was like?

Living 2 million years ago

The primatologist Frans de Waal wonders if anyone really believes that our ancestors did not have social norms without established writings about morality or religion? Humans were naturally concerned about the functioning of their groups and societies, he explains, long before today’s religions came into being. Because this was only a few millennia ago. Biologists, he says, are completely unimpressed by such time spans. After all, we can observe cultural traditions even among bonobos, chimpanzees and similar animals.4 In comparison, brain casts in Homo habilis skulls already appear much more distinct and developed.5

Continue with Homo erectus…

Footnotes / further reading

  1. Homo habilis. In: Website Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. URL: https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-habilis. Retrieved May 15, 2023; Johanson, D., Edgar, B.: Lucy und ihre Kinder. Munich: Elsevier, 2006, p. 174, p. 182-188.
  2. Johanson, D., Edgar, B.: Lucy und ihre Kinder. Munich: Elsevier, 2006, p. 174, p. 90/91, S. 182-189; Junker, T.: Die Evolution des Menschen. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2021, p. 29-32, p. 91/92.
  3. Junker, T.: Die Evolution des Menschen. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2021, p. 29-32, p. 84/85.
  4. de Waal, F.: The Bonobo and the Atheist. In Search of Humanism Among the Primates. New York & London: Norton & Company, 2014, p. 2-5, p. 15, p. 20, p. 45/46, p. 94; Junker, T.: Die Evolution des Menschen. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2021, p. 95-98.
  5. Bruner, E., Beaudet, A.: The brain of Homo habilis. Three decades of paleoneurology. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Vol. 174, 01/2023. URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248422001415. Retrieved June 25, 2023.