New wrist bones of Homo floresiensis from Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia)

Orr, Caley M.; Tocheri, Matthew W.; Burnett, Scott; Awe, Rokus Due; Saptomo, E. Wahyu; Sutikna, Thomas; Jatmiko, Jatmiko; Wasisto, Sri; Morwood, Michael J; Jungers, William L.

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.10.003

Cited by 44 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Thus, the styloid process most likely stabilizes the third carpometacarpal joint against mechanical loads generated when making and using tools (22,28). It may also help stabilize the capitate (and possibly the second metacarpal base) from slipping dorsally while the second metacarpal base simultaneously stabilizes the palmar capitate-trapezoid-trapezium joints as the wrist experiences radioulnar compression during strong contraction of the thumb musculature (3,20).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Pleistocene third metacarpal from Kenya and the evolution of modern human-like hand morphology

Ward

Tocheri

Plavcan

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Despite discoveries of relatively complete hands from two early hominin species (Ardipithecus ramidus and Australopithecus sediba) and partial hands from another (Australopithecus afarensis), fundamental questions remain about the evolution of human-like hand anatomy and function. These questions are driven by the paucity of hand fossils in the hominin fossil record between 800,000 and 1.8 My old, a time interval well documented for the emergence and subsequent proliferation of Acheulian technology (shaped bifacial stone tools). Modern and Middle to Late Pleistocene humans share a suite of derived features in the thumb, wrist, and radial carpometacarpal joints that is noticeably absent in early hominins. Here we show that one of the most distinctive features of this suite in the Middle Pleistocene to recent human hand, the third metacarpal styloid process, was present ∼1.42 Mya in an East African hominin from Kaitio, West Turkana, Kenya. This fossil thus provides the earliest unambiguous evidence for the evolution of a key shared derived characteristic of modern human and Neandertal hand morphology and suggests that the distinctive complex of radial carpometacarpal joint features in the human hand arose early in the evolution of the genus Homo and probably in Homo erectus sensu lato.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Pleistocene third metacarpal from Kenya and the evolution of modern human-like hand morphology

Ward

Tocheri

Plavcan

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…For example, although H. floresiensis has a broad pollical distal phalanx with a human-like FPL attachment [98,100], the proximal phalanges are curved to a similar degree as in Au. afarensis [100] and the wrist lacks a Mc3 styloid process, a bootshaped trapezoid, and a reorientation of the radial carpal and metacarpal joints that are found in later Homo (and H. naledi) [98,99]. However, there is a well-documented archaeological sequence at Flores clearly demonstrating that stone tool making and use were part of the behavioural repertoire of H. floresiensis from as early as 840 ka [97,101].…”

Section: New Insights From New Discoveries and Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence in hand: recent discoveries and the early evolution of human manual manipulation

Kivell

2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

114

121

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For several decades, it was largely assumed that stone tool use and production were abilities limited to the genus Homo . However, growing palaeontological and archaeological evidence, comparative extant primate studies, as well as results from methodological advancements in biomechanics and morphological analyses, have been gradually accumulating and now provide strong support for more advanced manual manipulative abilities and tool-related behaviours in pre- Homo hominins than has been traditionally recognized. Here, I review the fossil evidence related to early hominin dexterity, including the recent discoveries of relatively complete early hominin hand skeletons, and new methodologies that are providing a more holistic interpretation of hand function, and insight into how our early ancestors may have balanced the functional requirements of both arboreal locomotion and tool-related behaviours.

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“…Nevertheless, the fact remains that no hominin with a brain size of ca 400 cm 3 has previously been associated with knapped stone tools of any kind, and there remains no doubt that H. floresiensis anatomy is distinct from that of known tool-making hominins, including in the shoulder, arm and wrist configurations [94][95][96]. While it remains possible that H. floresiensis dwarfed from an isolated Southeast Asian H. erectus population [81], cladistics analysis suggests an earlier, non-erectus origin for the species [97].…”

Section: Homo Floresiensis and Captivity Bias In Hominin Tool Usementioning

confidence: 99%

‘Captivity bias’ in animal tool use and its implications for the evolution of hominin technology

Haslam

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Animals in captive or laboratory settings may outperform wild animals of the same species in both frequency and diversity of tool use, a phenomenon here termed ‘captivity bias’. Although speculative at this stage, a logical conclusion from this concept is that animals whose tool-use behaviour is observed solely under natural conditions may be judged cognitively or physically inferior than if they had also been tested or observed under controlled captive conditions. In turn, this situation creates a potential problem for studies of the behaviour of extinct members of the human family tree—the hominins—as hominin cognitive abilities are often judged on material evidence of tool-use behaviour left in the archaeological record. In this review, potential factors contributing to captivity bias in primates (including increased contact between individuals engaged in tool use, guidance or shaping of tool-use behaviour by other tool-users and increased free time and energy) are identified and assessed for their possible effects on the behaviour of the Late Pleistocene hominin Homo floresiensis . The captivity bias concept provides one way to uncouple hominin tool use from cognition, by considering hominins as subject to the same adaptive influences as other tool-using animals.

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New wrist bones of Homo floresiensis from Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia)

Cited by 44 publications

References 85 publications

Early Pleistocene third metacarpal from Kenya and the evolution of modern human-like hand morphology

Early Pleistocene third metacarpal from Kenya and the evolution of modern human-like hand morphology

Evidence in hand: recent discoveries and the early evolution of human manual manipulation

‘Captivity bias’ in animal tool use and its implications for the evolution of hominin technology

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