Early savanna runners
- From: Lee Olsen <paleocity@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 19:31:46 -0800 (PST)
Christopher Ruff
Femoral/humeral strength in early African Homo erectus
Journal of Human Evolution 54 (2008) 383-390
Abstract
Lower-to-upper limb-bone proportions give valuable clues to locomotor
behavior in fossil taxa. However, to date only external linear
dimensions
have been included in such analyses of early hominins. In this study,
cross-sectional measures of femoral and humeral diaphyseal strength
are determined for the two most complete early Homo erectus (or
ergaster) associated skeletonsdthe juvenile KNM-WT 15000 and the adult
KNM-ER 1808. Modern comparative samples include an adult human
skeletal sample representative of diverse body shapes, a human
longitudinal
growth series, and an adult chimpanzee sample. When compared to
appropriately age-matched samples, both H. erectus specimens fall
very close to modern human mean proportions and far from chimpanzee
proportions (which do not overlap with those of humans). This implies
very similar mechanical load-sharing between the lower and upper
limbs, and by implication, similar locomotor behavior in early H.
erectus and
modern humans. Thus, by the earliest Pleistocene (1.7 Ma), completely
modern patterns of bipedal behavior were fully established in at least
one
early hominin taxon.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Early savanna runners
- From: Marc Verhaegen
- Re: Early savanna runners
- Prev by Date: Re: Faster Than A Hyena?
- Next by Date: Re: Faster Than A Hyena?
- Previous by thread: The evolution of human running: Effects of changes in lower-limb length on locomotor economy
- Next by thread: Re: Early savanna runners
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
