Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Hand, the Brain and Man’s Travel in Time

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Hand and the Brain

  • 1733 Accesses

Abstract

The interplay between the hand and the brain in the evolution of man is a fascinating subject. Current knowledge, previously based only on fossil discoveries, has recently been substantially increased, thanks to advances in DNA technology. About 4.4 million years ago, hominins, about 120 m in height, had well-developed hands with opposable thumbs, but only rudimentary brains (Ardipithecus ramidus). Many parallel hominin lineages probably evolved and disappeared through the evolutionary process, with the survivors showing a dramatic increase in brain size over the subsequent millions of years. It is believed that bipedalism, together with well-developed hands and the emerging capacity for tool making, were important factors in this process along with such other factors as dietary shifts towards meat and marine food and an evolving capacity to use open fire to process and cook food. Our own species, Homo sapiens, probably emerged in Africa about 200,000 years ago and emigrated out of the continent about 50,000–60,000 years ago, although these time estimates might have to be shifted back in time due to ongoing re-evaluations of the mutation rate in the ‘genetic watch’. Our early ancestors (Homo erectus) probably left Africa millions of years ago, migrating to Europe and Asia, evolving into Neanderthals in Europe.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Johanson DC, Edey MA. Lucy: the beginnings of humankind. London: Penguin; 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  2. White TD, Asfaw B, Beyene Y, Haile-Selassie Y, Lovejoy CO, Suwa G, et al. Ardipithecus ramidus and the paleobiology of early hominids. Science. 2009;326(5949):75–86.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lovejoy CO, Simpson SW, White TD, Asfaw B, Suwa G. Careful climbing in the Miocene: the forelimbs of Ardipithecus ramidus and humans are primitive. Science. 2009;326(5949):70e1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Navarrete A, van Schaik CP, Isler K. Energetics and the evolution of human brain size. Nature. 2011;480(7375):91–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Psouni E, Janke A, Garwicz M. Impact of carnivory on human development and evolution revealed by a new unifying model of weaning in mammals. PLoS One. 2012;7(4):e32452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Napier JR, Tuttle RH. Hands. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Wilson FR. The hand: how its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books; 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gärdenfors P. How homo became sapiens: on the evolution of thinking. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. Corballis MC. From hand to mouth: the origins of language. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Mithen SJ. The singing Neanderthals: the origins of music, language, mind and body. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Tattersall I. Masters of the planet: the search for our human origins. New York: Palgrave Macmillan; 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Scientific American. What makes us human. Scientific American, Special collector’s edition. 2013;22(1).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Leakey MD, Hay RL. Pliocene footprints in the laetolil beds at laetoli, northern Tanzania. Nature. 1979;278:317–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hay RL, Leakey MD. Fossil footprints in laetoli. Sci Am. 1982;246:38–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Agnew N, Demas M, Leakey MD. The Laetoli footprints. Science. 1996;271(5256):1651–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Green DJ, Alemseged Z. Australopithecus afarensis scapular ontogeny, function, and the role of climbing in human evolution. Science. 2012;338(6106):514–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Bush ME, Lovejoy CO, Johanson DC, Coppens Y. Hominid carpal, metacarpal, and phalangeal bones recovered from the Hadar formation: 1974–1977 collections. Am J Phys Anthropol. 1982;57:651–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Marzke MW, Pouydebat E. Comments on E. Pouydebat, P. Gorce, Y. Coppens, V. Bels. Biomechanical study of grasping according to the volume of the object: human versus non-human primates. J Biomech. 2009;42:266–72. J Biomech. 2009;42(15):2628–9.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Marzke MW. Origin of the human hand. Am J Phys Anthropol. 1971;34(1):61–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Marzke MW. Upper-limb evolution and development. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2009;91 Suppl 4:26–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Almquist EE. Evolution of the distal radioulnar joint. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1992;275:5–13.

    Google Scholar 

  22. McPherron SP, Alemseged Z, Marean CW, Wynn JG, Reed D, Geraads D, et al. Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature. 2010;466(7308):857–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Alemseged Z, Spoor F, Kimbel WH, Bobe R, Geraads D, Reed D, et al. A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature. 2006;443(7109):296–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Wong K. Lucy’s baby. Scientific American, Special collector’s edition. 2013;22(1):4–11.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Haile-Selassie Y, Saylor BZ, Deino A, Levin NE, Alene M, Latimer BM. A new hominin foot from Ethiopia shows multiple Pliocene bipedal adaptations. Nature. 2012;483(7391):565–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Lovejoy CO, Suwa G, Simpson SW, Matternes JH, White TD. The great divides: Ardipithecus ramidus reveals the postcrania of our last common ancestors with African apes. Science. 2009;326(5949):100–6.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Suwa G, Asfaw B, Kono RT, Kubo D, Lovejoy CO, White TD. The Ardipithecus ramidus skull and its implications for hominid origins. Science. 2009;326(5949):68e1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Lovejoy CO, Suwa G, Spurlock L, Asfaw B, White TD. The pelvis and femur of Ardipithecus ramidus: the emergence of upright walking. Science. 2009;326(5949):71e1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Lovejoy CO, Latimer B, Suwa G, Asfaw B, White TD. Combining prehension and propulsion: the foot of Ardipithecus ramidus. Science. 2009;326(5949):72e1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Gibbons A. Breakthrough of the year. Ardipithecus ramidus. Science. 2009;326(5960):1598–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Leakey MD. Olduvai Gorge: my search for early man. London: Collins; 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Leakey LS, Tobias PV, Napier JR. A New species of the genus Homo from Olduvai Gorge. Nature. 1964;202:7–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kemble JV. Man’s hand in evolution. J Hand Surg Br. 1987;12(3):396–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Marzke MW. Man’s hand in evolution. J Hand Surg Br. 1988;13(2):229–30.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Linscheid RL. The hand and evolution. J Hand Surg Am. 1993;18(2):181–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Bennett MR, Harris JW, Richmond BG, Braun DR, Mbua E, Kiura P, et al. Early hominin foot morphology based on 1.5-million-year-old footprints from Ileret, Kenya. Science. 2009;323(5918):1197–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Adler R. Fossil footprints reveal our modern walk in the making. New Scientist. 2009;201(2698):10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Scott GR, Gibert L. The oldest hand-axes in Europe. Nature. 2009;461(7260):82–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Shen G, Gao X, Gao B, Granger DE. Age of Zhoukoudian Homo erectus determined with (26)Al/(10)Be burial dating. Nature. 2009;458(7235):198–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Brown KS, Marean CW, Herries AI, Jacobs Z, Tribolo C, Braun D, et al. Fire as an engineering tool of early modern humans. Science. 2009;325(5942):859–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Leakey MG, Spoor F, Dean MC, Feibel CS, Anton SC, Kiarie C, et al. New fossils from Koobi Fora in northern Kenya confirm taxonomic diversity in early Homo. Nature. 2012;488(7410):201–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Pennisi E. Neandertal genomics. Tales of a prehistoric human genome. Science. 2009;323(5916):866–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Hall S. Last of the Neanderthals. National Geographics. 1 October 2008(.p. 34–56.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Wynn T, Coolidge F. How to think like a Neanderthal. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Briggs AW, Good JM, Green RE, Krause J, Maricic T, Stenzel U, et al. Targeted retrieval and analysis of five Neandertal mtDNA genomes. Science. 2009;325(5938):318–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Pennisi E, Ancient DNA. Sequencing Neandertal mitochondrial genomes by the half-dozen. Science. 2009;325(5938):252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Burbano HA, Hodges E, Green RE, Briggs AW, Krause J, Meyer M, et al. Targeted investigation of the Neandertal genome by array-based sequence capture. Science. 2010;328(5979):723–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Green RE, Krause J, Briggs AW, Maricic T, Stenzel U, Kircher M, et al. A draft sequence of the Neandertal genome. Science. 2010;328(5979):710–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Musgrave JH. How dextrous was Neanderthal man? Nature. 1971;233(5321):538–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Musgrave JH. The Neandertals from Krapina, northern Yugoslavia: an inventory of the hand bones. Z Morphol Anthropol. 1977;68(2):150–71.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Niewoehner WA, Bergstrom A, Eichele D, Zuroff M, Clark JT. Digital analysis: manual dexterity in Neanderthals. Nature. 2003;422(6930):395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Wilkins J, Schoville BJ, Brown KS, Chazan M. Evidence for early hafted hunting technology. Science. 2012;338(6109):942–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Zilhao J, Angelucci DE, Badal-Garcia E, d’Errico F, Daniel F, Dayet L, et al. Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010;107(3):1023–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Balter M. Archaeology. Neandertal jewelry shows their symbolic smarts. Science. 2010;327(5963):255–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Finlayson C. The human who went extinct: why Neanderthals died out and we survived. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Balter M. Archaeology. Better homes and hearths, Neandertal-style. Science. 2009;326(5956):1056–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Brown P, Sutikna T, Morwood MJ, Soejono RP, Jatmiko, Saptomo EW, et al. A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature. 2004;431(7012):1055–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Jungers WL, Harcourt-Smith WE, Wunderlich RE, Tocheri MW, Larson SG, Sutikna T, et al. The foot of Homo floresiensis. Nature. 2009;459(7243):81–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Weston EM, Lister AM. Insular dwarfism in hippos and a model for brain size reduction in Homo floresiensis. Nature. 2009;459(7243):85–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Lieberman DE. Palaeoanthropology: Homo floresiensis from head to toe. Nature. 2009;459(7243):41–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Brumm A, Jensen GM, van den Bergh GD, Morwood MJ, Kurniawan I, Aziz F, et al. Hominins on Flores, Indonesia, by one million years ago. Nature. 2010;464(7289):748–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Falk D. The fossil chronicles: how two controversial discoveries changed our view of human evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Tocheri MW, Orr CM, Larson SG, Sutikna T, Jatmiko, Saptomo EW, et al. The primitive wrist of Homo floresiensis and its implications for hominin evolution. Science. 2007;317:1743–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Wong K. Rethinking the hobbits of Indonesia. Sci Am. 2009;301(5):66–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Krause J, Fu Q, Good JM, Viola B, Shunkov MV, Derevianko AP, et al. The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia. Nature. 2010;464(7290):894–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Brown TA. Human evolution: stranger from Siberia. Nature. 2010;464(7290):838–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Dalton R. Fossil finger points to new human species. Nature. 2010;464(7288):472–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Berger LR, de Ruiter DJ, Churchill SE, Schmid P, Carlson KJ, Dirks PH, et al. Australopithecus sediba: a new species of Homo-like australopith from South Africa. Science. 2010;328(5975):195–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Dirks PH, Kibii JM, Kuhn BF, Steininger C, Churchill SE, Kramers JD, et al. Geological setting and age of Australopithecus sediba from southern Africa. Science. 2010;328(5975):205–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Pickering R, Dirks PH, Jinnah Z, de Ruiter DJ, Churchil SE, Herries AI, et al. Australopithecus sediba at 1.977 Ma and implications for the origins of the genus Homo. Science. 2011;333(6048):1421–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. Lawton G. Could the orangutan be our closest relative? New Scientist. 2009;202(2713):6–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Schmitt D. Insights into the evolution of human bipedalism from experimental studies of humans and other primates. J Exp Biol. 2003;206(Pt 9):1437–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Richmond BG, Begun DR, Strait DS. Origin of human bipedalism: the knuckle-walking hypothesis revisited. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2001;Suppl 33:70–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Senut B, Pickford M, Gommery D, Mein P, Cheboi K, Coppens Y. First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya). C R Acad Sci Paris, Sciences de la Terre et des planètes. 2001;332:137–44.

    Google Scholar 

  75. Morgan E. The scars of evolution. New York: Oxford University Press; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Morgan E. The aquatic ape hypothesis. London: Souvenir; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Thorpe SK, Holder RL, Crompton RH. Origin of human bipedalism as an adaptation for locomotion on flexible branches. Science. 2007;316(5829):1328–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Henshilwood CS, Marean CW. The origin of modern human behavior. Curr Anthropol. 2003;44(5):627–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  79. Marean CW, Bar-Matthews M, Bernatchez J, Fisher E, Goldberg P, Herries AI, et al. Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene. Nature. 2007;449(7164):905–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. Stringer C. Human evolution: Out of Ethiopia. Nature. 2003;423(6941):692–3, 5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  81. Clark JD, Beyene Y, WoldeGabriel G, Hart WK, Renne PR, Gilbert H, et al. Stratigraphic, chronological and behavioural contexts of Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature. 2003;423(6941):747–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  82. Stringer C. Modern human origins: progress and prospects. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2002;357(1420):563–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  83. Klein RG. Out of Africa and the evolution of human behaviour. Evol Anthropol. 2008;17:267–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  84. Stix G. Traces of a distant past. Sci Am. 2008;299(1):56–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  85. Wade N. Before the dawn: recovering the lost history of our ancestors. New York: Penguin Press; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  86. Desalle R, Tattersall I. Human origins: what bones and genomes tell us about ourselves. College Station: Texas A & M University Press; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  87. Weaver DT, Roseman CC. New developments in the genetic evidence for modern human origins. Evolutionary Anthropology. 2008;17:69–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  88. Scally A, Durbin R. Revising the human mutation rate: implications for understanding human evolution. Nat Rev Genet. 2012;13(10):745–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  89. Langergraber KE, Prufer K, Rowney C, Boesch C, Crockford C, Fawcett K, et al. Generation times in wild chimpanzees and gorillas suggest earlier divergence times in great ape and human evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012;109(39):15716–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  90. Callaway E. Studies slow the human DNA clock. Nature. 2012;489(7416):343–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  91. Hofreiter M. Drafting human ancestry: what does the Neanderthal genome tell us about hominid evolution? Commentary on Green et al. (2010). Hum Biol. 2011;83(1):1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hand Surgery Department of Clinical Sciences, Malmö Lund University Skäne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden

    Göran Lundborg MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Göran Lundborg MD, PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag London

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lundborg, G. (2014). The Hand, the Brain and Man’s Travel in Time. In: The Hand and the Brain. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5334-4_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5334-4_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-5333-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-5334-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation