Chasing kudus to Georgia
- From: Lee Olsen <paleocity@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2008 12:28:06 -0800 (PST)
Postcranial evidence from early Homo from
Dmanisi, Georgia
David Lordkipanidze1, Tea Jashashvili1,2, Abesalom Vekua1, Marcia S.
Ponce de Leo´n2, Christoph P. E. Zollikofer2,
G. Philip Rightmire3, Herman Pontzer4, Reid Ferring5, Oriol Oms6,
Martha Tappen7, Maia Bukhsianidze1,
Jordi Agusti8, Ralf Kahlke9, Gocha Kiladze1, Bienvenido Martinez-
Navarro8, Alexander Mouskhelishvili1,
Medea Nioradze10 & Lorenzo Rook11
NATURE Vol 449|20 September 2007|
Abstract
The Plio-Pleistocene site of Dmanisi, Georgia, has yielded a rich
fossil and archaeological record documenting an early
presence of the genus Homo outside Africa. Although the
craniomandibular morphology of early Homo is well known as a
result of finds from Dmanisi and African localities, data about its
postcranial morphology are still relatively scarce. Here we
describe newly excavated postcranial material from Dmanisi comprising
a partial skeleton of an adolescent individual,
associated with skull D2700/D2735, and the remains from three adult
individuals. This material shows that the postcranial
anatomy of the Dmanisi hominins has a surprising mosaic of primitive
and derived features. The primitive features include a
small body size, a low encephalization quotient and absence of humeral
torsion; the derived features include
modern-human-like body proportions and lower limb morphology
indicative of the capability for long-distance travel. Thus,
the earliest known hominins to have lived outside of Africa in the
temperate zones of Eurasia did not yet display the full set of derived
skeletal features.
What else do they have to say? Oh yes:
“The length and morphology of the hindlimb is essentially modern,
and the presence
of an adducted hallux and plantar arch indicate that the salient
aspects of performance in the leg and foot, such as biomechanical
efficiency during long-range walking and energy storage/return during
running, were equivalent to modern humans.
This kid was a runner, probably could give Mr. Karoha all he could
handle in a kudu chase.
Marc, if you need the entire paper, I would be more than happy to
email you a copy.
.
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