A skilled man is …
A skilled man (Homo habilis - Homo habilis) is the first representative of the human race, the fossil remains of which were discovered in November 1960 by archaeologists Mary and Louis Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and by now have been found in other places in South Africa as well as in Eastern Africa, in particular in Koobi Fore in Kenya. The found remains of a skilled man date back about 2.8-2.5 million years.
Despite the fact that the size of the skull of homo habilis is similar to that of australopithecus, it had a large brain. His face is more like the face of a modern man. These people were probably the first to start making primitive stone tools and created the oldest Olduvai culture.
A skilled person - characteristics, features
Height is about 1.2 m, weight - men about 40-50 kg., Women 25-30 kg. His face was archaic in shape: supraorbital ridges, flat nose and protruding jaws. The head of the Skillful Man has become more rounded.
Body proportions similar to Australopithecus: an enlarged pelvis, arms, elongated relative to the legs, and forearms, elongated relative to the humerus;
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Two-legged movement, as can be judged by the structure of the pelvis and foot;
The size of the teeth has decreased, the tooth enamel has become thinner;
The volume of the brain was 580-780 cm³. Progressive development of Broca's zone, although the larynx did not yet allow a person who can skillfully pronounce sounds articulately;
In Homo habilis, a redistribution of the brain lobes occurs - the more primitive occipital lobe of the brain becomes smaller in favor of an increase in more progressive lobes - frontal, parietal, temporal with associative lobes;
The leg of the habilis by joining the bones was primitive, but it is still a human leg. In Homo habilis, the toe did not move to the side, but was together with other toes;
The phalanges of the nails have widened, a progressive feature that indicates the formation of digital pads. A power grip is formed, with the help of which it became possible to manufacture tools;
Habilis had more noticeable differences in sex characteristics - females had wider hips compared to males;
The structure of the pelvis provided a more perfect bipedality and the birth of more "big-headed" offspring;
The most probable ancestor of Homo sapiens is one of the gracile australopithecus species (most likely - Australopithecus garhi, which existed in Africa about 2.5 million years ago).
Discovered along with the fossil remains of human skillful animal bones, primitive tools can serve as proof that the habilis ate meat, fruits, insects and plants, they switched to euryphagia (omnivorous). The word "skillful" in the name of the first person characterizes the peculiarity of the structure of the hand, which has become adapted to the capture of tools.
Homo habilis broke bones to extract the nutrient brain from the internal cavity, united to protect against predatory animals and search for food. There is evidence that it was then that a division of labor could arise between men and women. Males mined meat, and females were engaged in gathering plant products. These ancient creatures knew how to build dwellings.
Classification problem
This type includes fossil remains that differ significantly from each other. There were proposals to divide this species into several independent species, or to classify a skilled person as a progressive gracile Australopithecus. But, the key difference between habilis is a larger brain volume, which is necessary for complex work activities (brain Rubicon).
Olduvai culture
Homo habilis were the first to start making stone tools. The most ancient stone tools, 2.7 - 2.5 million years old, were found in Ethiopia - choppers. The name of the culture is given by the place of the first find of such tools - Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
More primitive choppers are shattered pebbles. Later, it is a pebble with several chips at one end, which form a sharp chopping end.
Homo habilis used crushed stone and cobblestones as axes and scrapers, and with fragments of bones they dug roots out of the ground. Stones, perhaps wood, were the main material for the manufacture of tools and protection from predators. A scraper with a sharp edge was used for cutting the carcass, cutting the tendons, cleaning the skin.
Evidence that the chips on the oldest tools are not accidental is the repetition of their main types and the characteristic features of processing: there is a shock tubercle, upholstery from one or two edges in the absence of it on most of the stone, the concentration of tools in places where such artifacts could not form, and accumulate naturally.
Homo habilis consciousness
Perhaps Homo habilis was one of the first hominids and animals in general, in which it is possible to state the presence of consciousness.
Various animals (first of all, we are talking about pongids) are capable of carrying out intellectual activities, in particular, the use and manufacture of tools. But, they are “slaves of the situation” in the sense that they are able to operate with elements of only the situation that has developed at a given time in a specific place where they are.
The manufacture of a stone tool required a person to keep in his mind a logically connected, sequentially deployed chain of images of representations of such objects and events, remote from each other both in space and in time. The integration of such images was needed to obtain a pre-planned product of labor - a stone tool.
The emergence of labor activity, in turn, required the cooperation of the actions of different individuals, which in turn was associated with the development of speech.