A comparison of ancient and contemporary
footprints reveals that our ancestors were
strolling much like we do some 3.6 million years
ago, a time when they were still quite
comfortable spending time in trees, according to
a study which will be published in the March 22 issue of the journal PLoS ONE.
Anatomical fossils have given scant confirmation
about when our ancestors developed a fully modern
gait. Although some researchers have argued that
the 4.4 million-year-old ancient human
Ardipithecus ramidus ("Ardi") described in
October 2009 was adept at walking on her hind legs, many disagree.
So rather than quibbling over badly crushedand
often missingfossil bones, the researchers
behind the new studdy turned much of their focus
back to the famous Laetoli footprints, which were
discovered more than 30 years ago in what is now
Tanzania. Likely left by Australopithecus
afarensis, the same species as "Lucy," these
prints show an upright gait, but it has remained
controversial just how fluid and modern this creature's walk would have been.
<http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=human-ancestors-walked-comfortably-2010-03-20>Link
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Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2010/03/human-ancestors-walked-comfortably.htm>monochrom
at 3/22/2010 03:54:00 PM
