Earliest Homo Looked Nothing Like A Human, Skeleton Suggests

Homo habilis reconstruction from previous ideas

January

/ 2026

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For decades, Homo habilis has been treated as the “starter” version of our genus - more humanlike skull and teeth, plus the stone tools often found in the same broad time range. But a newly described partial skeleton is now pushing back hard on the idea that early Homo would have looked recognizably human from the neck down.

The fossil assemblage, found at Koobi Fora on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in Kenya, includes around 100 bones from the upper body and parts of the pelvis, associated with a near-complete lower jaw and teeth. Together, they make up the most complete H. habilis skeleton yet described, known as KNM-ER 64061, reports Science.

What has emerged in the recent study report published in The Anatomical Record, is a hominin that still carried a surprisingly “primitive” build: long, powerful arms and thick bone walls that echo earlier australopiths. In other words, early Homo may have been equipped with a more modern head while keeping a body that wouldn’t pass for human at a distance.

The Koobi Fora skeleton: what was found, and why it matters

The Koobi Fora remains were first recovered in 2012, beginning with a tooth and then a substantial set of lower teeth; additional bones lay scattered downslope. A key hurdle was proving that the jaw and the limb bones belonged to the same individual - a recurring problem in sites where fossils can be moved and mixed over time.

Researchers report that CT scans revealed matching mineral “fingerprints” (including barite) on the jaw and arm bones, strengthening the case that the pieces belong together. That allowed the team to treat KNM-ER 64061 as a single individual and, critically, to interpret proportions rather than isolated fragments.

In the technical description, the authors emphasize that the skeleton includes clavicle and shoulder-blade fragments, both upper arms, both forearms, plus part of the sacrum and hip bones - rare coverage for H. habilis, which has long been known mostly from cranial and dental material.

Skeletal remains of KNM-ER 64060 and KNM-ER 64061, the most complete H. habilis skeleton yet studied. (Grine, F. E. et al./ The Anatomical Record)

Long arms, thick bone - and a body built differently than H. erectus

The new skeleton reinforces an uncomfortable point for the classic narrative: the tall, long-legged, “human body plan” seems to arrive later than many textbook summaries suggest. The team reports that H. habilis retained relatively long forearms compared with Homo erectus, and that its upper-limb bones have strikingly thick cortices (dense outer bone walls), a trait more reminiscent of australopiths, explains the study.

That does not automatically mean KNM-ER 64061 was swinging through trees like an ape - researchers caution against turning anatomy into simple lifestyle storytelling. Still, long arms and robust upper limbs hint that climbing or heavy upper-body loading remained important in its daily life, even while stone tools were spreading across the landscape.

At the same time, a small but telling detail in the pelvis - an ischium fragment - suggests more efficient hip mechanics for upright walking than in australopiths. It’s a mosaic: not “human,” not “ape,” but a blend that complicates any straight-line march toward modern human anatomy.

Old idea of how Homo habilis would have looked.

Homo habilis would NOT have stood and looked like this. (Homo habilis Leakey et al 1964/Public Domain)

Rethinking early Homo: who made the “human” body?

One reason this fossil matters is timing. H. erectus appears around 2 million years ago, while H. habilis persists much later, meaning they overlapped for a long time rather than forming a neat ancestor–descendant chain. That overlap makes it harder to argue that habilis simply “became” erectus through gradual body reshaping.

Instead, the new skeleton supports an increasingly common view: early Homo was diverse, and different lineages may have tested different solutions - some emphasizing brain and dental changes, others moving toward the long-legged form suited to long-distance walking. The Anatomical Record paper even provides estimates that highlight the physical gap: about 160 cm tall, but only roughly 31–33 kg in body mass for this individual, noticeably lighter than typical estimates for H. erectus.

If so, the truly “human-looking” body may not have been a starting feature of our genus at all, but a later evolutionary package, one that appeared after early tool use had already begun, and after multiple hominin species shared the same East African landscapes.

Top image: Bangkok, Thailand, Homo habilis reconstruction at Rama9 museum. Source: Akkharat J./Adobe Stock

By Gary Manners