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Science 2 April 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5411, pp. 65 - 71
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5411.65
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Review

The Human Genus

Bernard Wood, 1* Mark Collard 2

A general problem in biology is how to incorporate information about evolutionary history and adaptation into taxonomy. The problem is exemplified in attempts to define our own genus, Homo. Here conventional criteria for allocating fossil species to Homo are reviewed and are found to be either inappropriate or inoperable. We present a revised definition, based on verifiable criteria, for Homo and conclude that two species, Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, do not belong in the genus. The earliest taxon to satisfy the criteria is Homo ergaster, or early African Homo erectus, which currently appears in the fossil record at about 1.9 million years ago.

1 Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, 2110 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA, and Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560, USA.
2 Department of Anthropology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bwood{at}gwu.edu

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