TY - JOUR
T1 - The position of Australopithecus sediba within fossil hominin hand use diversity
AU - Dunmore, Christopher J.
AU - Skinner, Matthew M.
AU - Bardo, Ameline
AU - Berger, Lee R.
AU - Hublin, Jean Jacques
AU - Pahr, Dieter H.
AU - Rosas, Antonio
AU - Stephens, Nicholas B.
AU - Kivell, Tracy L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - The human lineage is marked by a transition in hand use, from locomotion towards increasingly dexterous manipulation, concomitant with bipedalism. The forceful precision grips used by modern humans probably evolved in the context of tool manufacture and use, but when and how many times hominin hands became principally manipulative remains unresolved. We analyse metacarpal trabecular and cortical bone, which provide insight into behaviour during an individual’s life, to demonstrate previously unrecognized diversity in hominin hand use. The metacarpals of the palm in Australopithecus sediba have trabecular morphology most like orangutans and consistent with locomotor power-grasping with the fingers, while that of the thumb is consistent with human-like manipulation. This internal morphology is the first record of behaviour consistent with a hominin that used its hand for both arboreal locomotion and human-like manipulation. This hand use is distinct from other fossil hominins in this study, including A. afarensis and A. africanus.
AB - The human lineage is marked by a transition in hand use, from locomotion towards increasingly dexterous manipulation, concomitant with bipedalism. The forceful precision grips used by modern humans probably evolved in the context of tool manufacture and use, but when and how many times hominin hands became principally manipulative remains unresolved. We analyse metacarpal trabecular and cortical bone, which provide insight into behaviour during an individual’s life, to demonstrate previously unrecognized diversity in hominin hand use. The metacarpals of the palm in Australopithecus sediba have trabecular morphology most like orangutans and consistent with locomotor power-grasping with the fingers, while that of the thumb is consistent with human-like manipulation. This internal morphology is the first record of behaviour consistent with a hominin that used its hand for both arboreal locomotion and human-like manipulation. This hand use is distinct from other fossil hominins in this study, including A. afarensis and A. africanus.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085215340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41559-020-1207-5
DO - 10.1038/s41559-020-1207-5
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 32424278
AN - SCOPUS:85085215340
SN - 2397-334X
VL - 4
SP - 911
EP - 918
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
IS - 7
ER -