Knuckle-walking in Sahelanthropus? Locomotor inferences from the ulnae of fossil hominins and other hominoids

Meyer, Marc R.; Jung, Jason P.; Spear, Jeffrey K.; Araiza, Isabella Fx.; Galway‐Witham, Julia; Williams, Scott A.

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103355

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 193 publications

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“…Therefore, we suggest that it cannot be excluded that A. turkae from Anatolia represents an early branch of the Gorilla lineage that diverged from O. macedoniensis (or a shared common ancestor) in Europe and whose descendants migrated to Africa, giving rise to various genera which have also been noted to share derived features with extant gorillas, such as, S. tchadenensis (ca. 7.0 Ma) (Meyer et al 2023, Wolpoff et al 2007), A. ramidus (4.4 Ma) (Prang 2019, Suwa et al 2009) and A. afarensis (3.9-2.9 Ma) (de Bonis and Koufos 1994).…”

Section: The Possible Origin Of the Homininae In Miocene Europementioning

confidence: 98%

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Current evidence indicates a Eurasian origin for the Last Common Ancestor of African apes and humans, and supports a new hypothesis suggesting that the Zanclean Megaflood (5.3 Ma) may have played a role in the ultimate divergence of Pan and Homo.

Mansfield,

Vaneechoutte

2024

IEE

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While the established paradigm of human evolution asserts that the lineages leading to the extant great apes and Homo arose in Africa, the large number of fossil discoveries from Europe in recent decades support arguments for a European origin of the Hominidae (all great apes) and plausibly, also a European common ancestor of the Homininae (African great apes, Australopithecus species, and the genus Homo). Meanwhile, a lack of consensus remains regarding the phylogenetic placement of australopithecine fossil species in Africa, with substantial evidence indicating that some of them may align more closely to extant African great apes than to Homo. Based on a novel interpretation of existing fossil, genetic, paleogeographic and paleoclimatic evidence, this paper aims to put forward a new hypothesis regarding the separate divergences of Gorilla, Pan, and Homo. We support existing arguments that the last common ancestor of African great apes and Homo may have lived in Europe in the late Miocene, and we put forward a new hypothesis as to where, when, and why the separate lineages may have started to diverge. Extreme conditions during the Vallesian Crisis (11.6-8.0 Ma) and the Messinian Salinity Crisis (6.0-5.3 Ma) may have forced separate branches of European hominids to migrate out of the Mediterranean region. We argue that the lineages leading to Gorilla and Pan independently migrated into Africa, while the lineage leading to Homo went in another direction. Thereafter, the Zanclean Megaflood (5.3 Ma)--which caused the Mediterranean to refill very quickly--may have cut off the migration route between Eurasia and Africa at the Sinai Peninsula, isolating a small population (the putative Homo lineage) on the Arabian Peninsula / Red Sea coast during a period of hyperaridity. The other group (Pan lineage) crossed into Africa, where it subsequently diversified into various species of Australopithecus.

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Section: The Possible Origin Of the Homininae In Miocene Europementioning

confidence: 98%

“…The same aquatic nutrients may have been pivotal to encephalization in Homo (Broadhurst et al 2011, Crawford et al 1999, IMIM 2021, Tobias 2011. Salt consumption (Messerli et al 2021) and the activity of swimming itself (Chase 2008) have also been shown to be greatly beneficial to human health and longevity.…”

Section: Out(side) Of Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Current evidence indicates a Eurasian origin for the Last Common Ancestor of African apes and humans, and supports a new hypothesis suggesting that the Zanclean Megaflood (5.3 Ma) may have played a role in the ultimate divergence of Pan and Homo.

Mansfield,

Vaneechoutte

2024

IEE

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“…the dental configuration that most non-human apes possess for sharpening the canines when the upper and lower toothrows occlude) and an anteriorly shifted foramen magnum suggesting that the head was held more upright than in chimpanzees and most bonobos. The morphology of the recently described S. tchadensis femur has been used by different groups to argue for [ 70 ] and against ([ 69 , 71 ]; in press) habitual bipedalism, whereas the forearm evidence indicates climbing [ 70 ] or knuckle-walking [ 73 ] capabilities.…”

Section: Early Hominin Evolution In Africa: Where Do We Stand a Centu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dart and the Taung juvenile: making sense of a century-old record of hominin evolution in Africa

Rowan,

Wood

2024

Biol. Lett.

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The announcement in 1925 by Raymond Dart of the discovery of the Taung juvenile’s skull in a quarry in sub-Saharan Africa is deservedly a classic publication in the history of palaeoanthropology. Dart’s paper—which designated Taung as the type specimen of the early hominin species Australopithecus africanus —provided the first fossil evidence supporting Charles Darwin’s 1871 prediction that Africa was where the human lineage originated. The Taung juvenile’s combination of ape and human characteristics eventually led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of human evolution. This contribution focuses on the milieu in which Dart’s paper appeared (i.e. what was understood in 1925 about human evolution), the fossil evidence as set out by Dart, his interpretation of how a species represented by a fossilized juvenile’s skull fitted within prevailing narratives about human evolution and the significance of the fossil being found in an environment inferred to be very different from that occupied by living apes. We also briefly review subsequent fossil finds that have corroborated the argument Dart made for having discovered evidence of a hitherto unknown close relative of humans, and summarize our current understanding of the earliest stages of human evolution and its environmental context.

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The relative size of the calcaneal tuber reflects heel strike plantigrady in African apes and humans

Prang

2023

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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ObjectivesThe positional repertoire of the human‐chimpanzee last common ancestor is critical for reconstructing the evolution of bipedalism. African apes and humans share a heel strike plantigrade foot posture associated with terrestriality. Previous research has established that modern humans have a relatively large and intrinsically robust calcaneal tuber equipped to withstand heel strike forces associated with bipedal walking and running. However, it is unclear whether African apes have a relatively larger calcaneal tuber than non‐heel‐striking primates, and how this trait might have evolved among anthropoids. Here, I test the hypothesis that heel‐striking primates have a relatively larger calcaneal tuber than non‐heel‐striking primates.MethodsThe comparative sample includes 331 individuals and 53 taxa representing hominoids, cercopithecoids, and platyrrhines. Evolutionary modeling was used to test for the effect of foot posture on the relative size of the calcaneal tuber in a phylogenetic framework that accounts for adaptation and inertia. Bayesian evolutionary modeling was used to identify selective regime shifts in the relative size of the calcaneal tuber among anthropoids.ResultsThe best fitting evolutionary model was a Brownian motion model with regime‐dependent trends characterized by relatively large calcaneal tubers among African apes and humans. Evolutionary modeling provided support for an evolutionary shift toward a larger calcaneal tuber at the base of the African ape and human clade.ConclusionsThe results of this study support the view that African apes and humans share derived traits related to heel strike plantigrady, which implies that humans evolved from a semi‐terrestrial quadrupedal ancestor.

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Knuckle-walking in Sahelanthropus? Locomotor inferences from the ulnae of fossil hominins and other hominoids

Cited by 8 publications

References 193 publications

Current evidence indicates a Eurasian origin for the Last Common Ancestor of African apes and humans, and supports a new hypothesis suggesting that the Zanclean Megaflood (5.3 Ma) may have played a role in the ultimate divergence of Pan and Homo.

Current evidence indicates a Eurasian origin for the Last Common Ancestor of African apes and humans, and supports a new hypothesis suggesting that the Zanclean Megaflood (5.3 Ma) may have played a role in the ultimate divergence of Pan and Homo.

Dart and the Taung juvenile: making sense of a century-old record of hominin evolution in Africa

The relative size of the calcaneal tuber reflects heel strike plantigrady in African apes and humans

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