ANTHROP 3300 Lecture 9: Bipedalism (10.06)
7 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Defining feature: dart, 1924 taung child, south africa. Location of foramen magnum: 1930s and 1940s, robert broom gracile and robust forms in south africa. Spine and pelvis indicated bipedal (small brains: 1959, mary and louis leakey in olduvai gorge, east africa. Found fossils for 2 mya: 1974, donald johanson, ethiopia. Lucy, australopithecus afarensis (up to 3. 9 mya: now could be 6 7 mya with sahelanthropus tchadensis. Bipedalism: facultative in primates used for specific purpose, not all the time, human bipedalism. Striding (stance toe off swing heelstrike) But bone structure in chimps and gorillas is different (evolved in parallel) Center of gravity (cog) hip in humans, trunk in chimps: spine. Standing chimp cog far forward of hip joint. Humans = shorter and broader ilia, wraps around. Shorter ilia = cog closer to hip joint. Gluteus minimus and medius = maintain lateral stability. Gluteus maximus = prevents body from pitching forward when waking: legs.
