Homo Habilis "Handy Man"

This was the beginning of the Stone Age, and the dawn of early man. This period of time is called the Stone Age because these very early men created tools made of stone. 

The Stone Age ran from about 2 million years ago to about 10,000 years ago, which was the end of the last Ice Age. As far as we know, true humans first appeared in Africa.

Man had to get smart to survive. Man did not have strong claws to help them fight. They could not out run early tigers or cave lions. The Homo habilis man is credited with inventing stone tools to help live more comfortably, and to better protect themselves against the many carnivore (meat eating) animals of the time.

Homo habilis were taller than their ancestors, the human-like primates (Lucy's people), and had larger brains. They followed food sources, and set up camp as needed. They sheltered under cliffs, whenever possible. You might think they would look for caves to spend the night, but caves quite often had dangerous occupants, just as they do today. Although this group made stone tools and weapons, these weapons were still pretty basic. Their main diet was probably fruits, roots, nuts and vegetables that they found growing wild.

Since man had not yet learned how to make fire, these early people had to wait until they found something burning from natural causes, set aflame for example from a lightening strike. A campfire had to be carefully watched, because if the fire went out, they did not know how to start it again.