Homo habilis ("handy man") qualifies as a human almost solely by skeletal anatomy, which is quite like our own. Very little is known of its life or mental capabilities, athough the stone tools shown above are thought to have been fashioned by this species.These crude hand axes and stone flakes could have been manufactured as needed or as opportunity arose. The fracture lines of stones create a sharp cutting surface capable of butchering fairly large animals. The photo above right shows a modern anthropologist skinning a calf with a stone tool made just as ancient Homo habilis would have done.
One widely held view of human development has held that hunting as an activity was the chief driver of evolutionary change in early humans, as it would have selected for for certain kinds of intelligence, coordination, and aggressive behavior [this is called the "Hunting Hypothesis"]. Was Homo habilis a hunter of large game and a successful competitor with the great predators of Africa--lions, leopards, hyenas? Or was this species an opportunistic taker of small game and a scavenger? Present evidence cannot answer the question, but a scavenging role seems more likely.
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