ArticleNature ecology & evolution2020
The position of Australopithecus sediba within fossil hominin hand use diversity.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- The impact of footwear on human talar trabecular architecture.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- How do forelimb long bones adapt in rhinoceroses? An in-depth examination of their microanatomy.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Human dexterity and brains evolved hand in hand.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Trabecular Architecture of the Proximal Tibia in Extant Hominids.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- Phalangeal cortical bone distribution reveals different dexterous and climbing behaviors inScience advances · 2025Article
- Estimating elbow loading conditions through the motion behaviors of subchondral bone density during joint movements.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Trabecular architecture of the distal femur in extant hominids.Journal of anatomy · 2024Article
- Variation and covariation of external shape and cross-sectional geometry in the human metacarpus.American journal of biological anthropology · 2024Article
- Identification of functionally related adaptations in the trabecular network of the proximal femur and tibia of a bipedally trained Japanese macaque.Anthropological science : journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon = Jinruigaku zasshi · 2024Article
- Cortical bone distribution of the proximal phalanges in great apes: implications for reconstructing manual behaviours.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- A comparative approach for characterizing the relationship among morphology, range-of-motion and locomotor behaviour in the primate shoulder.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Hafted technologies likely reduced stone tool-related selective pressures acting on the hominin hand.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- From fossils to mind.Communications biology · 2023Review
- Reappraising the palaeobiology of Australopithecus.Nature · 2023Review
- Wild chimpanzee behavior suggests that a savanna-mosaic habitat did not support the emergence of hominin terrestrial bipedalism.Science advances · 2022Article
- Trabecular bone ontogeny tracks neural development and life history among humans and non-human primates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Growth and development of trabecular structure in the calcaneus of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) reflects locomotor behavior, life history, and neuromuscular development.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Ontogenetic changes to metacarpal trabecular bone structure in mountain and western lowland gorillas.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Variability and the form-function framework in evolutionary biomechanics and human locomotion.Evolutionary human sciences · 2022Review
- New fossils ofeLife · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The human lineage is marked by a transition in hand use, from locomotion towards increasingly dexterous manipulation, concomitant with bipedalism. The forceful precision grips used by modern humans probably evolved in the context of tool manufacture and use, but when and how many times hominin hands became principally manipulative remains unresolved. We analyse metacarpal trabecular and cortical bone, which provide insight into behaviour during an individual's life, to demonstrate previously unrecognized diversity in hominin hand use. The metacarpals of the palm in Australopithecus sediba have trabecular morphology most like orangutans and consistent with locomotor power-grasping with the fingers, while that of the thumb is consistent with human-like manipulation. This internal morphology is the first record of behaviour consistent with a hominin that used its hand for both arboreal locomotion and human-like manipulation. This hand use is distinct from other fossil hominins in this study, including A. afarensis and A. africanus.
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