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Archeology is a field of arguments. These arguments consist of what pre-historical evidence can tell us about the past, and how humans and other species should fit in a classification system. Surviving evidence makes these arguments more complex, especially when it comes to bones. Any bone material that survives long enough as a fossil is almost certainly damaged, but the information it has makes investigation worth it. It goes without saying that modern humans have bones, and so did our closest ancestors. What needs investigating, in the eyes of archeologists, is why our bones are as they currently are.
Our human feet are relatively strange when compared to other species. A key difference: our big toe is in line with the others. While a small detail, it is ultimately connected to our bipedal (or, walking on two feet) nature. But why, as archeologists seek to answer, are we so adapted for life on two feet? In seeking the answer to this question, arguments thus arise.
Millions of years ago, the species Ardipithecus ramidus roamed areas in Ethiopia with an odd adaptation in its feet: while its foot structure allowed for bipedal walking, it still possessed a grasping toe for moving about in the trees. A small, but interesting detail.
Anthropologist Tim White and his team published their study of A. ramidus in 2009, setting off a proverbial explosion in the field. This was an ancient human ancestor with a trait that no other had, and the subsequent arguments were great. It risked undermining many of the key theories about the origin of humans: theories about the habitats of early humans (were they savannahs or forested?), about the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, and the age-old question, “Why did humans adapt to bipedalism?” Archeologists still grapple with these questions and arguments, especially when it comes to the origin of humanity.
[Source: Fossil Men by Kermit Pattison, HarperCollins Publishers, 2020. ]
[Image: Digital render of A. ramidus foot studied by Tim White and team. Image source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40446791_Combining_Prehension_and_Propulsion_The_Foot_of_Ardipithecus_Ramidus ]
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