ANTH 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Homo Habilis, Dental Arch, Ape
Document Summary
Fossil record has shown important physical changes in early hominin evolution: bipedal locomotion, expansion of the brain, modification of the female pelvis to allow bigger-brained babies to be born, reduction to the face, teeth, and jaws. We do(cid:374)"t k(cid:374)o(cid:449) (cid:449)hethe(cid:396) (cid:271)ipedalis(cid:373) de(cid:448)eloped (cid:395)ui(cid:272)kly o(cid:396) g(cid:396)adually (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause the fossil record for the period between 8 million and 4 million years ago is very slim. Other theories stress the importance of freeing the hands. Gordon hewes suggested that carrying food in the hands was critical activity. Clifford jolly argued that bipedalism would have allowed early hominins to efficiently harvest small seeds and nuts because both hands could be used to pick up food and move it directly to the mouth. I(cid:374) milfo(cid:396)d wolpoff"s opi(cid:374)io(cid:374), it (cid:449)as the ad(cid:448)a(cid:374)tage of (cid:272)a(cid:396)(cid:396)yi(cid:374)g (cid:449)eapo(cid:374)s continuous that was responsible for transforming occasional bipedalism to completely bipedal locomotion.
