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Evidence that humans evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor

Nature volume 404, pages 382–385 (2000) Cite this article

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Abstract

Bipedalism has traditionally been regarded as the fundamental adaptation that sets hominids apart from other primates. Fossil evidence demonstrates that by 4.1 million years ago1, and perhaps earlier2, hominids exhibited adaptations to bipedal walking. At present, however, the fossil record offers little information about the origin of bipedalism, and despite nearly a century of research on existing fossils and comparative anatomy, there is still no consensus concerning the mode of locomotion that preceded bipedalism3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Here we present evidence that fossils attributed to Australopithecus anamensis (KNM-ER 20419)11 and A. afarensis (AL 288-1)12 retain specialized wrist morphology associated with knuckle-walking. This distal radial morphology differs from that of later hominids and non-knuckle-walking anthropoid primates, suggesting that knuckle-walking is a derived feature of the African ape and human clade. This removes key morphological evidence for a Pan–Gorilla clade, and suggests that bipedal hominids evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor that was already partly terrestrial.

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Figure 1: The wrist joint during the swing phase (left column) and support phase (right column) of knuckle-walking.
Figure 2: Measurements and canonical variates analysis (CVA) of the distal radius.
Figure 3: Palmar view of distal radii.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Aiello, E. Delson, B. Demes, J. Fleagle, F. Grine, W. Jungers, S. Larson, D. Lieberman, O. Pearson, D. Pilbeam, J. Polk, E. Sarmiento, R. Susman and B. Wood for providing valuable comments; F. Grine, L. Gordon, R. Thorington, R. Potts, A. Walker, and C. Ward for providing access to specimens in their care; and The Henry Luce Foundation.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA

    Brian G. Richmond & David S. Strait

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  1. Brian G. Richmond
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  2. David S. Strait
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Correspondence to Brian G. Richmond.

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Richmond, B., Strait, D. Evidence that humans evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor. Nature 404, 382–385 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35006045

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Comments

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  1. aquape

    Richmond & Strait *assume* that the KWing traits in anamensis & afarensis were disappearing, but this is clearly wrong: Pliocene anamensis & afarensis show "incipient" KWing features, whereas Pleistocene boisei had more obvious KWing features: they "may have been close to the knuckle-walker condition, not unlike the extant African apes" (Leakey 1971): the boisei ulnae O.H.36 and L.40-19 and humerus KNM-ER 739 were of gorilla robusticity and length (McHenry 1991, 1992, Howell & Wood 1974, Senut 1980, Leakey 1971, Aiello & Dean 1990:367-9), and the curvature and the cross-section of L.40-19 are reminiscent of knuckle-walkers (Howell & Wood 1974), their arm lengthening and strengthening is paralleled ontogenetically in the African apes, and Rensch (1972:45) even states that "it is only after birth that an ape's arms become disproportionally long".

    IOW, Pleistocene East-African australopiths showed more knuckle-walking traits than Pliocene ones.
    Google "two incredible logical mistakes in traditional paleo-anthropology".

  2. aquape

    KWing apparently evolved in parallel in Gorilla // Pan, it has nothing to do with Homo. For an update, google e.g. "human evolution verhaegen".

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