The theory of human evolution postulates that the ancestors of modern homo sapiens were ancient apes. The confirmation of this theory is the latest research that a well-preserved skeleton studied four million years ago. Scientists from Texas A&M University published their paper in the Science Advances talks on what their findings suggest.
The team of four scientists – Thomas C. Prang, Kristen Ramirez, Mark Grabowski and Scott A. Williams studied the skeletal remains of Ardipithecus ramidus, also known as Ardi, which dates back to 4.4 million years old. The ancient skeleton was found in Ethiopia and one of his hands is exceptionally well preserved, which eventually formed the basis of the research results.
By comparing the shape of Ardi’s hand with several other hand samples of recent humans, apes, and apes measured on bones in museum collections around the world, the researchers drew comparisons with the kind of movement actions used by the earliest hominid or fossil human relatives. is. .
Talk to Texas A&M TodayThomas Prang, assistant professor of anthropology and lead author of the article, said that the bone shape provides clues for certain types of adjustments to habits or lifestyles. By drawing connections between bone form and behavior between living forms, the scientists were able to make inferences about the behavior of extinct species, such as Ardi, which cannot be directly observed.
Thomas further said that their study also found evidence for a major evolutionary leap between the kind of hand proposed by Ardi and all later hominin hands, including that of a well-known 3.2 million-year-old well-preserved skeleton that in the same area in the 1970s.
Thomas said that this ‘evolutionary leap’ took place at an important time when hominins were adapting to a more human form of upright walking, and the earliest evidence for the making of hominin stone tools and the use of stone tools, such as cutting marks on animal fossils, was also discovered from this time. The study is consistent with the classic idea that Charles Darwin first proposed in 1871 that the use of the hands and upper limbs for manipulation in early human relatives appeared in connection with upright walking, Thomas says.
Scientists believe that the evolution of human hands and feet probably took place in a correlated way. With the study of the ancient skeleton, researchers believe that it may retain the characteristics of the skeleton that occurred in the last ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. If so, it could give researchers a good insight into the origins of the human race in addition to walking upright, in a better light.
The results of this study, published Tuesday, provide clues as to how early people started walking upright and make similar movements that all people perform today.