Study of 50-Plus Wrist Fossils Suggests Human-Ape Ancestor May Have Knuckle-Walked
Updated
Updated · Scientific American · May 20
Study of 50-Plus Wrist Fossils Suggests Human-Ape Ancestor May Have Knuckle-Walked
3 articles · Updated · Scientific American · May 20
More than 50 hominin wrist fossils and scans from gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans showed shared wrist traits that researchers say could point to a knuckle-walking common ancestor of humans and African apes.
The study, published Tuesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found a reorganization of bones on the thumb side of the wrist that biomechanical research links to knuckle walking.
Researchers said those traits may have persisted in the human lineage because they were later useful for object manipulation or tool use, rather than because early humans still moved on their knuckles.
Outside experts called it the most comprehensive wrist analysis yet, but said wrist evidence alone cannot prove how the 8 million-to-6 million-year-old ancestor moved without fossils from that period.
What can fossil wrists reveal about our six-million-year-old common ancestor?
Did our hands evolve for walking on our knuckles before they mastered tools?