FREE ESSAY ON HOMOHABLIS

HOMOHABLIS

The next most recent ancestor of man is Homo habilis. The first ever fossil remains of
Homo habilis were discovered in 1964 in Tanzania, East Africa by the Leakeys. Robert
Jurmain wrote in his text book, Introduction to Physical Anthropology, Louis Leakey
suggested that there was a Plio-Pleistocene hominid with a significantly larger brain
then found in Australiopithecus. They made this claim based on the findings at Olduvai
Gorge. Leakey and his team gave a new species name to the fossil remains The fossils of
Homo habilis are different then those of the Australopithecines by several physical
characteristics such as a larger cranial cavity, smaller rear teeth, and skeletal bones
which resemble modern humans. 
Homo habilis means handy man, Fossils uncovered in Tanzania date back about 1.8 to 2
million years. Stone tools were also found with the remains of H. habilis and the remains
of some Australopithecines. Jurmain wrote ... Leakey argued that other remains found at
Olduvai were the remains of a hablis meal!. From my notes taken in Physical Anthropology
class, I wrote, there has been debate over the assertion by Leakey and it is noted that
cultural and physical morphology must be considered when determining whether they were
cannibalistic.. It is believed that the more advanced Homo habilis created and used
tools. 
Homo habilis is considered to be the earliest member of the human genus Homo, it
represents the evolutionary transition between the Australopithecines and the later
members of the species Homo erectus. Jurmain wrote in his textbood, While A. africanus
had a cranial capacity that averaged between 375 cu cm (22.9 cu in) and 485 cu cm (29.6
cu in), the Homo habilis brain averaged 750 cu cm (45.8 cu in)--compared to the modern
human brain size of 1,300 to 1,350 cu cm (or 79.3 to 82.4 cu in). As hominid's became
more human, they developed the production of tools from materials such as stone. Stone
tools are the more valuable artifacts because they are the ones that have survived to
modern times. Others artifacts that were needed for the survival of habilis , were likely
made from wood, bone, fiber, and hide. These materials have not survived like the stone
tools. The tools of habilis have been found in larger numbers than its actual bones. This
is because one individual could make hundred of stone tool in a life time. Homo habilis
discarded tools and the waste products of making them. The tools remain the most solid
evidence of the lifestyle of Homo habilis. According to Jurmaine ...based on their
characteristic tools types, they are often described as being from the pebble chopper
industry.  The pebble chopper technology originated at least 2 million years ago and was
the major method of making tools until about 1.5 million years ago. Even though the
Olduvai tools were poorly made it was a huge step toward having the ability to control
the environment. According to Professor J. Schell The tools show that habilis had the
ability to use an object from nature to perform a specific task and to also modify that
object according to a predetermined formula. This process involved foresight, planning,
and experimentation. Such advanced mental processes led the Leakeys to conclude that the
makers of the Olduvai tools, Homo habilis , were part of the genus homo, and to call them
handy humans.