An early member of the genus Homo, including Homo habilis, known from fossils in Africa dating from 2 million to about 1.5 million years ago. There is much disagreement concerning the evolutionary place of this species, but H. habilis is generally accepted as the earliest member of the genus Homo, following Australopithecus and preceding Homo erectus. Habilines made crude stone tools. They were first discovered in 1959-1960 in northern Tanzania.