Posted on 07/16/2018 8:36:27 PM PDT by Simon Green
Scientists have long linked the evolution of the human handunique for its lengthy opposable thumbs and dexterous fingersto the rise of stone tools some 2.6 million years ago. These instruments, from primitive chunks of rock used as makeshift hammers to sharp stone flakes created by striking one stone against another and even small handaxes, are typically attributed to Homo habilis, an ancient human species nicknamed handy man in honor of its theorized role as the first toolmaker.
Early hominins practiced an array of tool-related activities, including hunting, foraging and cooking. But according to a new study from researchers at Chatham University and the University of Kent, not all of these activities were created equal. The teams findings, newly published in the Journal of Human Evolution, suggest that a specific behaviorsmashing animal bones to access their marrowhad an outsized effect on the development of early hand anatomy.
These behaviors all involve different materials, different end goals, and different patterns of force and motion for the upper limb, the researchers note in their study. Therefore, it is unlikely that each behavior exerted equal influence on the evolution of the modern human hand.
Bone marrow is a tasty, high-energy food. Early humans who had hands more suited to smashing open bones and acquiring the delicious snack might have been better equipped to survive in the harsh conditions of prehistory, and thus more likely to pass their genesand dextrous handson to the next generation. To test that hypothesis, the team asked 39 volunteers to don a manual pressure sensor system called Pliance and demonstrate a bevy of Pleistocene-era activities, like cracking nuts, acquiring marrow with the aid of a hammerstone, and chipping away flint to shape tools known as flakes.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
According to 2001: A Space Odyssey
It’s self evident that the human hand evolved to fit the 1911A1 Colt semiauto.
Can't argue with that.
Thanks Simon Green.
I thought the hand evolved to be able to fit into cracks where small tools always seem to fall and roll when the are accidentally dropped.
Nope, it did not.
Nonsense. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit,
was a devout evolutionist; everywhere a “hint” of evolution was supposedly found, he was there to unabashedly promote it. Sunking Cive is the modern day incarnation of this nut job.
As often as it happens, I suspect the human hand evolved just so’s I could get my fingers broken.
Im focusing on the tasty treat of bone marrow. As a boy, my Eastern European parents would boil ham and a head of cabbage (quartered) and potatoes. The marrow from the ham bone (Schpick, to us) was added to boiled potatoes and smashed. Absolutely delicious. Fast forward to me in a high end, trendy restaurant that offered bone marrow and bread as an appetizer...for more than our entire meal as a lad cost.
Or to care for babies.
Heh... STEVE! He’s sat in with Al DiMeola, alas, this is Grand Rapids, so there was no chance of his showing up with Al D and the band.
Nice profile page, I may have to do a straight steal of the logical fallacies graphic.
No, it was created before the death of any creature.
You are too kind. Help yourself.
No, it evolved first in men concurrent with the discovery by early cave women of the not tonight, I have a headache excuse. So, if it were it not for the need for an appendage suitable for masterbation the entire human race would still be living in caves, they would all be democrats, and Hillary Clintrock would be president.
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