In Depth
- Authors
- Spoor F, Wood B, Zonneveld F
- Address
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of
Liverpool, UK.
- Title
- Implications of early hominid labyrinthine morphology for
evolution of human bipedal locomotion.
- Source
- Nature, 369 (Jun 23 1994) pp 645-8
- Abstract
- The upright posture and obligatory bipedalism of modern
humans are unique among living primates. The evolutionary
history of this behaviour has traditionally been pursued by
functional analysis of the postcranial skeleton and the
preserved footprint trails of fossil hominids. Here we report a
systematic attempt to reconstruct the locomotor behaviour of
early hominids by looking at a major component of the mechanism
for the unconscious perception of movement, namely by examining
the vestibular system of living primates and early hominids.
High-resolution computed tomography was used to generate cross-
sectional images of the bony labyrinth. Among the fossil
hominids the earliest species to demonstrate the modern human
morphology is Homo erectus. In contrast, the semicircular canal
dimensions in crania from southern Africa attributed to
Australopithecus and Paranthropus resemble those of the extant
great apes. Among early Homo specimens, the canal dimensions of
Stw 53 are unlike those seen in any of the hominids or great
apes, whereas those of SK 847 are modern-human-like.
Medical Subject Heading [MeSH]
Animal, Evolution, Hominidae, Human, Labyrinth, Locomotion,
Primates, Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Tomography, X-Ray Computed,
Medline File
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