Skillful Homo Characteristics

Homo habiles (skillful man), was a hominid that lived in Africa approximately 2 or 1.9 million years ago, during the Pleistocene, in the so-called Gelasian and Calabrian periods or ages. He inhabited Africa in territories that today belong to countries such as Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Although this hominid still had simian physical characteristics, such as the abundance of hair in the body, it already presents a more morphology. close to later hominid species, such as a cranial capacity superior to that of primates, a more rounded skull, presents a Minor prognathism on the face, and a pelvic reduction caused by the bipedal position when walking, although it does not yet have the erect position, so he walked hunched over.

Some of the Characteristics that Homo Skillful had:

Morphology.- It still had a still simian appearance, similar to that of several primates, such as excess hairiness, elongated arms, and a face with simian features. although unlike the apes it had a slightly more trimmed face, a smaller jaw, less prominent eye sockets, a skull slightly rounded compared to apes, and a cranial capacity greater than that of any other primate, with 650 cubic centimeters of brain. He was about three feet tall, and he was already walking bipedally but stooped.

Sociability.- He was a sociable being, possibly his organization was based on families and clans, whose members helped each other for different such things as foraging, gathering fruit, hunting small animals, and also searching for carrion. It is believed that it was a being that although it already hunted some prey, it was mainly a scavenger, being of a size relatively small, it was prey to the large predators of the place, such as lions, hyenas, leopards etc. Reason why it is believed that they still slept in the trees, although their daily life was developed on the ground, in search of water and food. The members protected each other from the dangers that beset them. This hominid had not yet buried its dead.

Nomadism.- It was a being that to get food from him had to move from one place to another being a nomad. It is one of the reasons why remains of this hominid have been found in places very far from each other such as Ethiopia or Tanzania.

Feeding.- The skilled homo fed on what he found within his reach, both plants and animals; he had scavenging habits, although he apparently hunted small prey. Thanks to the carnivorous diet he developed a brain larger than that of his ancestors, but to maintain enough energy for a brain higher, more calories are needed per day, therefore, being smarter, they needed more consumption of calories, which are better in the meat.

Tools.- He is the first hominid that used tools to hunt and transform the things he needed; His tools were made of wood, bone and stone, the latter mainly made of flint, a material that due to its hardness made it easier to kill the animals, allowing the passage from scavenger to hunter, and it is thanks to these stone tools, that he can break bones to be able to take better advantage of food, being precisely the consumption of meat foods, especially the marrow rich in essential nutrients, which allowed the brain to evolves and develops more than his ancestors, and thanks to that development he has the ability to invent more tools and uses for themselves. Some of the tools they created were stone scrapers, spearheads made of stone, mallets, and wooden spears made of sharp logs.