Spring Break
Bone studies show human ancestor walked on two legs
Issue date: 3/13/08
This is the basic idea behind Ruff's study, in which he has examined the femur and humerus of both complete Homo erectus skeletons, one a fully grown adult and the other still an adolescent. In addition to the hominid skeletons, Ruff has also studied the bones of adult humans and adult chimpanzees as a basis of comparison.
If Homo erectus skeletal properties are more similar to chimp bone properties, the data would seem to support Homo erectus walking on two legs and two arms, much like a chimpanzee or a gorilla, while more human-like results would support the traditional upright Homo erectus model.
Ruff has found that the leg and arm bones of Homo erectus are much more similar to human bones than to the bones of chimpanzees. "This indicates that [Homo erectus] had a locomotor repertoire that was indistinguishable from that of modern humans," Ruff said.
This hypothesis has been around for quite some time, of course and has been generally accepted, but Ruff's experiment is important in that it confirms the assumption that Homo erectus walked upright with truly scientific data and not just an extrapolation from other human and hominid specimens' behaviors.
Knowing that Homo erectus could indeed walk upright allows for the idea that Homo erectus could have traveled quite long distances, which explains why it was Homo erectus and not earlier hominids that left Africa.
It has also been found that there are gender-linked skeletal differences in modern humans, a trend somewhat mimicked in Ruff's Homo erectus samples. This finding implies, tentatively, that perhaps even 1.7 million years ago, there were sexual dimorphisms, or pronounced differences in the anatomy of members of the same species across gender lines.
Ruff will continue his research into humanity's ancestors. Currently, he is under way in his investigation of "another virtually contemporaneous early hominid, this time a Homo habilis specimen, dated to 1.8 million years ago. This specimen shows a very different pattern - much more chimp-like - demonstrating that there was significant locomotor variability among even early Homo."
There is still quite a lot left to learn about our most recent ancestors: their biology, their behavior and their lives.
If Homo erectus skeletal properties are more similar to chimp bone properties, the data would seem to support Homo erectus walking on two legs and two arms, much like a chimpanzee or a gorilla, while more human-like results would support the traditional upright Homo erectus model.
Ruff has found that the leg and arm bones of Homo erectus are much more similar to human bones than to the bones of chimpanzees. "This indicates that [Homo erectus] had a locomotor repertoire that was indistinguishable from that of modern humans," Ruff said.
This hypothesis has been around for quite some time, of course and has been generally accepted, but Ruff's experiment is important in that it confirms the assumption that Homo erectus walked upright with truly scientific data and not just an extrapolation from other human and hominid specimens' behaviors.
Knowing that Homo erectus could indeed walk upright allows for the idea that Homo erectus could have traveled quite long distances, which explains why it was Homo erectus and not earlier hominids that left Africa.
It has also been found that there are gender-linked skeletal differences in modern humans, a trend somewhat mimicked in Ruff's Homo erectus samples. This finding implies, tentatively, that perhaps even 1.7 million years ago, there were sexual dimorphisms, or pronounced differences in the anatomy of members of the same species across gender lines.
Ruff will continue his research into humanity's ancestors. Currently, he is under way in his investigation of "another virtually contemporaneous early hominid, this time a Homo habilis specimen, dated to 1.8 million years ago. This specimen shows a very different pattern - much more chimp-like - demonstrating that there was significant locomotor variability among even early Homo."
There is still quite a lot left to learn about our most recent ancestors: their biology, their behavior and their lives.
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