From Biped to Strider

by Meldrum, D. Jeffrey; Hilton, Charles E.

• ISBN13: 9780306480003
• ISBN10: 030648000X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Plenum Pub Corp

Summary

The study of human bipedalism has been overshadowed by many polarized debates. One dispute concerns whether or not australopithecines were wholly terrestrial or retained a degree of arboreality. Another deliberation focuses on the bipedalism of australopithecines compared to modern humans: was it similar, intermediate in nature, or unique? Because of the preoccupation with discussions such as these, the significant fact that modern human walking is more than locomotion on two legs has been underemphasized. This volume focuses on the pattern and process of the transition to the modern form of human locomotion, with its adaptations for a striding stiff-legged gait, efficiency of running, and economy of resource transport. This emerging group of contributors spanning the fields of anthropology, biology and anatomy debate issues such as: -When and in what sequence did these morphological traits appear? -What were the changes in the bio-behavioral complex of hominin locomotor evolution? -What were the implications for the enhancement and expansion of hominin mobility?

Author Biography

David R. Begun, University of Toronto, Canada Gilles Berillon, CNRS, Paris, France David Carrier, University of Utah Yvette Deloison, CNRS, Paris, France Russell D. Greaves, University of Texas, San Antonio Laura Tobias Gruss, Duke University Charles E. Hilton, Western Michigan University Patricia Ann Kramer, University of Washington, Seattle Henry M McHenry, University of California, Davis D. Jeffrey Meldrum, Idaho State University Marsha D. Ogilvie, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Peter Schmid, University of Zurich-Irchel Daniel Schmitt, Duke University

Table of Contents

Striders, Runners, and Transporters	1	(8)
Charles E. Hilton
D. Jeffrey Meldrum
Knuckle-Walking and the Origin of Human Bipedalism	9	(26)
David R. Begun
A New Hypothesis on the Origin of Hominoid Locomotion	35	(14)
Yvette Deloison
Functional Interpretation of the Laetoli Footprints	49	(14)
Peter Schmid
Fossilized Hawaiian Footprints Compared with Laetoli Hominid Footprints	63	(22)
D. Jeffrey Meldrum
In What Manner Did They Walk on Two Legs? An Architectural Perspective for the Functional Diagnostics of the Early Hominid Foot	85	(16)
Gilles Berillon
The Behavioral Ecology of Locomotion	101	(16)
Patricia Ann Kramer
Bipedalism in Homo ergaster: An Experimental Study of the Effects of Tibial Proportions on Locomotor Biomechanics	117	(18)
Laura Tobias Gruss
Daniel Schmitt
The Running-Fighting Dichotomy and the Evolution of Aggression in Hominids	135	(28)
David Carrier
Age, Sex, and Resource Transport in Venezuelan Foragers	163	(20)
Charles E. Hilton
Russell D. Greaves
Mobility and the Locomotor Skeleton at the Foraging to Farming Transition	183	(20)
Marsha D. Ogilvie
Uplifted Head, Free Hands, and the Evolution of Human Walking	203	(8)
Henry M. McHenry
Index	211