BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION:

AUSTRALOPITHECUS, HOMO HABILIS, AND HOMO ERECTUS

Note: Don't get into specifics; instead, try to keep it short and to the point.

AUSTRALOPITHECUS
OVERVIEW: The genus Australopithecus is a collection of hominin species
that span the time period from 4.18 to about 2 million years ago. They are
the closest known relatives of our genus Homo, and we most likely evolved
from a species that was part of this adaptive radiation. Australopithecus
afarensis, or the “southern ape from Afar,” is a well-known species due to
the famous “Lucy” specimen.

CHARACTERISTICS DESCRIPTION ILLUSTRATION

This species occupied a

range of environments.
Some populations lived
in savannah or sparse
woodland in small
social groups
SOCIAL LIFE containing a mixture of
males and females,
children and adults.
Au. afarensis likely lived
in groups for
protection and
possibly cooperation.
 Members of this species
had apelike face
PHYSICAL proportions (a flat nose,
CHARACTERISTICS a strongly projecting
lower jaw) and a small
brain, and long, strong
arms with curved
fingers adapted for
climbing trees. They
also had small canine
teeth like all other early
humans, and a body
that stood on two legs
and regularly walked
upright.

Australopithecus
species had hands that
were well suited for the
controlled
manipulation of cast of an Australopithecus
afarensis hand
TOOLS objects, and they
probably did use tools.
These tools are called
lomekwi stone tools.

Lomekwi stone tools

 Australopithecus
afarensis had mainly a
plant-based diet,
including leaves, fruit,
seeds, roots, nuts, and
insects… and probably
the occasional small
vertebrates, like lizards.
This species occupied a
range of environments.
WAY OF LIVING Some populations lived
in savannah or sparse
woodland, others lived
in denser forests beside
lakes.

HOMO HABILIS
OVERVIEW: Homo habilis, known as 'handy man' is a species of the genus
Homo which lived from approximately 2.33 to 1.4 million years ago, during
the Gelasian Pleistocene period. This species is known as ‘handyman’
because stone tools were found near its fossil remains and it is assumed this
species had developed the ability to modify stone into tools.

CHARACTERISTICS DESCRIPTION ILLUSTRATION

There is evidence of
“repeated-use” sites,
meaning that
individuals returned
to particular areas to
 meet, they are not
thought to have
settled in any one area
SOCIAL LIFE but rather moved
about the landscape
in their quest for food.
They may have made
use of those sites for
a variety of
communal or
individual activities,
such as grouping for
“central place
foraging” activities.
This suggest that
suggest that
butchering was a
coordinated group
activity.

Homo habilis
exhibited a high
degree of sexual
dimorphism, with
males and females
weighing 114 and 70
lb and standing 5´2˝
and 4´1˝, respectively.
Their skull, face, and
dentition were more Male and Female Homo
gracile than the habilis
PHYSICAL australopiths. Their
CHARACTERISTICS teeth and dental
arcades were very
human-like. They had
fairly large ape-like
incisors. Jaw was
smaller. They
possessed short legs
and elongated arms,
possibly suggesting
 continued reliance on
an arboreal
environment. Brain
averaged 610 cubic
centimetres in size.

OLDOWAN TOOLS
Discovered at Olduvai
Gorge, Tanzania. That
locale gave the tools
TOOLS their name- Oldowan
pebble tools

Chopper - could have Oldowan Chopper Core

been used for food
processing—by
pounding, breaking, or
bashing.

Flake - probably were

used mainly as cutters,
for example, to
dismember game
carcasses. Oldowan Flake Tool
 Lived in a
predominantly
grassland
environment. The
climate was
becoming cooler and
drier and this may
have been the
impetus for new
feeding strategies.
They were thought to
have been
WAY OF LIVING forager-scavengers
that collected wild
plant foods, hunted
small animals
opportunistically, and
scavenged carcasses
from large predators.
Because microscopic
analyses indicate that
cut marks on some
bones overlay
predators’ teeth
marks, showing that
the hominins arrived
afterward.

HOMO ERECTUS
OVERVIEW: Homo erectus, meaning ‘upright man’ is an extinct species of
hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later
Pleistocene, with the earliest fossil evidence dating to around 1.9 million
years ago and the most recent to approximately 200,000 years ago. The
species originated in Africa and migrated as far as India, China and Java.
Homo erectus existed longer than any other human species.

CHARACTERISTICS DESCRIPTION ILLUSTRATION

 Print size analyses
SOCIAL LIFE suggest that these H.
erectus individuals
lived and moved in
cooperative
multi-male groups,
offering direct evidence
consistent with
human-like social
behaviors in H. erectus.
They are also the first
early human species to
fit squarely into the
category of a hunter
gatherer society.

Homo erectus was a

human of medium
stature that walked
upright. The braincase
was low, the forehead
was receded, and the
PHYSICAL nose, jaws, and palate
CHARACTERISTICS were wide. The brain
was smaller and the
teeth larger than in
modern humans.
Height : 4ft 9in - 6 ft 1 in
(145cm - 185cm)
Weight : 88 - 150 lbs ( 40
- 68 kg)

TOOLS ACHEULIAN TOOLS

Named after the site of

St. Acheul on the
Somme River in France
where artifacts from
this tradition were first
discovered in 1847 -
have been found over
an immense area of the
Old World.

Hand axes - pear

shaped, teardrop
shaped, or rounded in
outline, usually 12–20
cm long and flaked over
at least part of the
surface of each side
(bifacial). It is a
multi-purpose tool used
in a variety of tasks
including the
butchering and
skinning of game,
digging in soil, and
cutting wood or other
plant materials.

Cleaver - large tools

with one end squared
off to form an axlike
cutting edge. Used for
heavy chopping
and hacking at the
sinews of larger
animals.

In addition to hand axes

and cleavers, the
Acheulean industry
included choppers and
flakes. The latter were
produced from a
prepared core and
could be used as knives
without further change
or could be chipped to
make side-scrapers,
 burins, and other
implements.

WAY OF LIVING Homo erectus groups

hunted and gathered
their way to survival.
Their diets evolved to
include more
meat-based foods, as
well as plants and some
animal products. The
first fossil evidence for
hunting comes from
about 1.75 million years
ago (Ma), at the time
when H. erectus began
moving out of Africa
into Asia and Europe.

Homo erectus is
thought to have been
the first species to use
fire for cooking and
warmth. Their habitats
were shaped primarily
by natural forces, and
caves provided ample
shelter from predators
as well as socializing
opportunities.
MEMBERS:
OCENAR, KIAN
OPRE, HANNAH MAE
IKEDA, MADOKA
CAMPANERO, GWYNETH
SERRANO, JOROSE
BANTANG, ARTHUR SHANE
LIMA, MA. MIKYLA

REFERENCES:
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/australopithecus-and-kin
-145077614/
https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/origins/homo_habilis.php
https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/origins/homo_erectus.php
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/australopithecus-afarensis-lucy-species.html
https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/australopithecus
-afarensis
https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/australopithecus-
afarensis/
https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/australopithecus-
afarensis/
https://www.worldhistory.org/Homo_Erectus/
https://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/e-exhibits/oldowan-and-acheulean-ston
e-tools
https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/australopithecus
-afarensis#:~:text=afarensis%20had%20both%20ape%20and,strong%20arms
%20with%20curved%20fingers
https://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/Homo_erectus
https://carta.anthropogeny.org/libraries/bibliography/footprints-reveal-direct-
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https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/the-history-of-our-tribe-hominini/chapt
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