Pre-history: homo habilis

So, as humans took a different path of evolution from chimpanzees and entered into Old Stone Age (or Paleolithic Era), they were…well…using first stone tools. These were our ancestors of homo habilis (handy person = person with tools of little over 4 feet tall) species about 2.5 to 2.6 million years ago. They were among many other human species. The social experimentation of humans have already begun by this time and they started living in groups. They relied on gathering plants and hunting wild animals to feed themselves. Apart from stone as the primary material for tools, they also used animal bones, wood, leather and vegetable fibers. At this stage, though, large portion of their meat diet came from scavenging from other animal's kills rather than actual hunting.

At this point of evolution, our ancestors were very similar chimpanzees, but subtly different in two defining ways - walking on two legs and depending on tools and other members of their "herd" in addition to their own abilities.

Pre-history: Our Superfamily - Homonoidea

We, humans, are part of animal super-family called hominoidea. Within this super-family there are other members such as chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons. Gray (or Hanuman) langur, a commonly found "monkey" in most parts of India (including my balcony) with black face gray hair is NOT part of this hominoidea family. But, they are part cercopithecoidea family, just like baboons. If you had seen a chimpanzee in a zoo, it won’t take you long to realize that they are our closest relatives. By this I mean no offense to humans…or chimps who are reading this. Chimpanzees in fact belong to the same tribe as humans. This tribe of hominids may have first came down from trees around 10 million years ago in the region of modern day Ethiopia. Fortunately, or unfortunately, humans developed into separate homo genus from chimpanzees of Pan genus about 6 million years ago in African savanna. With this, began a 3 million years of evolution of modern homo sapiens or what we call present day “humans”.

You have to bear with me as I try to grind through some of the pre-historic human development and its impact on India. Lot of this material may be dry and full of terminology straight out of museums filled with cavemen. I promise that once we are out of Bronze Age and well into Iron Age, things will be lot less dry and more personal.