| These bones were made for jogging |
Feature Function Comments
Shorter Achilles tendon ( shorter calcaneal tuber )
Energy storage
Running requires more energy storage and release in muscles and tendons than walking . A shorter calcaneal tuber , which is indicative of a short Achilles tendon , has been correlated with
Longitudinal arch
Increased lower limb length
Shock absorption and energy storage
Shock absorption and energy storage
Increased stride length
Stores 17 percent of strain energy , which is needed during push-off in running ( Kerr et al . 1987 , 148 ).
A secondary indicator of the presence of a longitudinal arch ( Bojsen-Møller 1979 , 166 ).
Longer stride length requires less oxygen consumption during locomotion in many terrestrial mammals ,
|
|
Williams 1982 , Pontzer 2007 , 1760 ) |
Increased lower limb / joint robusticity |
Stress reduction |
Running causes an increase in mechanical loading . |
Shortened toes ( Rolian et al 2009 , 718 )
Table 2 . Anatomical features used in this study .
Feature |
Improves Walking |
Improves Running |
First Seen |
Achilles tendon length No1 Yes , 2,3 Homo sapiens3 Longitudinal arch Yes4 Yes5 Australopithecus afarensis ? 6 , Homo habilis7
Yes4 Yes5 Australopithecus afarensis6 Increased lower limb length Yes8 Yes9 Homo habilis10
Increased lower limb / joint robusticity
Shortened toes Yes4 Yes14
Probably11 Yes12 Homo erectus13
Homo habilis7 , Homo sapiens / Homo neanderthalensis14
Table 3 . Appearance of anatomical features in the fossil record .
Gaining access to original fossil hominin specimens
to assembling the necessary data exclusively from literary sources . Any and all literature on skeletal elements of fossils ranging from 3.2 million years old to modern humans were examined for the presence or absence of a set of skeletal traits ( tab . 2 ). Where possible , measurements from the femur were collected to infer if changes in morphology between hominin species . Due to differences in measuring techniques between articles , not enough data could be collected to run statistical tests .
Results
Homo erectus , and that they are more likely related to
( Bramble and Lieberman 2004 , 346 ). All lower limb skeletal features under study in this paper , with the exception of the calcaneal tuber and increased
hominin species older than Homo erectus ( tab . 3 ). Femoral length , which was used as a proxy for limb length , increased over evolutionary time . An increase can already be observed between Australopithecus afarensis and Homo habilis .
2017 | INTER-SECTION | VOL III | p . 9