The earliest Homo species was the Homo habilis. H. habilis means "handy man." H. habilis started the trend toward larger brains, which are at least 30% larger than the A. africanus. Approximate brain size was 500 - 650 cc. One skull from the H. habilis was found near Lake Turkana and represents one of the oldest Homo fossils found to date. H. habilis existed around 2.2 million years ago. H. habilis were also possibly capable of basic speech.
The next Homo, Homo rudolfensis, shares many of the characteristics of the H. habilis. In fact, many anthropologists make no distinction between the…
