Findings could simplify human lineage

Several ancestral forms of humans were really one species, not separate ones as previously thought, according to new research. These earliest members of the Homo genus included the species Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, and Homo erectus. The findings are based on an analysis of a complete skull of a hominid, or human-like creature, from Dmanisi, Georgia, dated to about 1.8 million years ago.