There are some issues in human paleontology that seem to be timeless. Most deal with the
origin and early evolution of our own genus – something about which we should care. Some of
these issues pertain to taxonomy and systematics. How many species of Homo were there in the
Pliocene and Pleistocene? How do we identify the earliest members the genus Homo? If there is
more than one Plio-Pleistocene species, how do they relate to one another, and where and when
did they evolve? Other issues relate to questions about body size, proportions and the functional
adaptations of the locomotor skeleton. When did the human postcranial “Bauplan” evolve, and
for what reasons? What behaviors (and what behavioral limitations) can be inferred from the
postcranial bones that have been attributed to Homo habilis and Homo erectus?