Homo - What, Who, When, Where?

The search for the “origin of Homo” suggests we know what we are looking for, so unless we are clear about that, then how will we know when we have found it? It also conflates several “origins” problems. When did our ancestors and close relatives look the way we expect the earliest members of our genus to have looked? When did our ancestors and close relatives behave in the way we expect the earliest members of our genus to have behaved? The search for the origin of a living genus can be conducted either from the bottom up, or from the top down. Both strategies have their problems. This talk will explain what I am looking for when I look within the fossil record for the origins of our own genus, Homo.