It has been speculated that homo habilis may have existed as far back as 2.4 million years ago. More significantly, it was probably the first human ancestor to use
tools. Rudimentary stone tools such as
choppers (made from core tools) and
flakes (sharper pieces extracted from the core) have been found in association with homo habilis bones and dated to around their time.
The average cranial capacity of this species was approximately 680 cm3, which was a large improvement on the Australopithecus capacity (around 500 cm), but small in comparison to Homo erectus and later Homo sapiens. The skull had lost the large sagittal crest running along the midline of the skull, as well as the flaring zygomatic arches and large temporalis.
Homo habilis was a terrestrial biped that was part of an expansion in brain capacity and tool-crafting abilities. However, there is no real evidence to suggest that Homo habilis had any capacity for language.