@article{cb0f705030f24c4caa7d3330515a8689,
title = "Evidence for habitual climbing in a Pleistocene hominin in South Africa",
abstract = "Bipedalism is a defining trait of the hominin lineage, associated with a transition from a more arboreal to a more terrestrial environment. While there is debate about when modern human-like bipedalism first appeared in hominins, all known South African hominins show morphological adaptations to bipedalism, suggesting that this was their predominant mode of locomotion. Here we present evidence that hominins preserved in the Sterkfontein Caves practiced two different locomotor repertoires. The trabecular structure of a proximal femur (StW 522) attributed to Australopithecus africanus exhibits a modern human-like bipedal locomotor pattern, while that of a geologically younger specimen (StW 311) attributed to either Homo sp. or Paranthropus robustus exhibits a pattern more similar to nonhuman apes, potentially suggesting regular bouts of both climbing and terrestrial bipedalism. Our results demonstrate distinct morphological differences, linked to behavioral differences between Australopithecus and later hominins in South Africa and contribute to the increasing evidence of locomotor diversity within the hominin clade.",
keywords = "Animals, Anthropology, Biological Evolution, Femur/anatomy & histology, Fossils/history, History, Ancient, Hominidae/anatomy & histology, Humans, Locomotion, South Africa",
author = "Leoni Georgiou and Dunmore, {Christopher J} and Ameline Bardo and Buck, {Laura T} and Jean-Jacques Hublin and Pahr, {Dieter H} and Dominic Stratford and Alexander Synek and Kivell, {Tracy L} and Skinner, {Matthew M}",
note = "Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank the following researchers for access to specimens in their care: Anneke Van Heteren (Zoologische Staatssammlung M{\"u}nchen), Brigit Grosskopf (Georg-August-Universitaet, Goettingen, Germany), Christophe Boesch (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), and Inbal Livne (Powell-Cotton Museum). For access to the Ohalo II specimen we thank Dani Nadel (University of Haifa) and Israel Herskovitz (Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University). For access to specimens from Sterkfontein we thank Bernard Zipfel (Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand). We also thank Keturah Smithson (University of Cambridge) and David Plotzki (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) for the CT scanning of specimens. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helping improve this manuscript. This research is supported by a 50th Anniversary Research Scholarship, University of Kent (L.G.), European Research Council Starting Grant 336301 (M.M.S. and T.L.K.), European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant 819960; M.M.S., C.J.D., J.-J.H., and T.L.K.), The Fyssen Foundation (A.B.), and the Max Planck Society (M.M.S., T.L.K., and J.-J.H.). Funding Information: We thank the following researchers for access to specimens in their care: Anneke Van Heteren (Zoologische Staatssammlung M?nchen), Brigit Grosskopf (Georg-August-Universitaet, Goettingen, Germany), Christophe Boesch (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), and Inbal Livne (Powell-Cotton Museum). For access to the Ohalo II specimen we thank Dani Nadel (University of Haifa) and Israel Herskovitz (Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University). For access to specimens from Sterkfontein we thank Bernard Zipfel (Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand). We also thank Keturah Smithson (University of Cambridge) and David Plotzki (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) for the CT scanning of specimens. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helping improve this manuscript. This research is supported by a 50th Anniversary Research Scholarship, University of Kent (L.G.), European Research Council Starting Grant 336301 (M.M.S. and T.L.K.), European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant 819960; M.M.S., C.J.D., J.-J.H., and T.L.K.), The Fyssen Foundation (A.B.), and the Max Planck Society (M.M.S., T.L.K., and J.-J.H.). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).",
year = "2020",
month = apr,
day = "14",
doi = "10.1073/pnas.1914481117",
language = "English",
volume = "117",
pages = "8416--8423",
journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
issn = "0027-8424",
publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",
number = "15",
}