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The Feet of Fossil Homo

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The Evolution of the Primate Foot

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR))

Abstract

The genus Homo, as currently known, includes several hominin taxa that span a time period from roughly 2.8 million years ago (Ma) to the present. Nearly all of these taxa possess feet that appear, at least superficially, anatomically similar to the feet of modern humans. They possess clear adaptations for terrestrial bipedalism, and the range of morphological diversity is relatively constrained compared with that observed among earlier hominins. However, there does exist variation in foot anatomy among Homo taxa, which leads to questions regarding whether and how patterns of foot function and locomotion may have varied across fossil Homo. Here, we explore these anatomical variations, introduce some of the preliminary hypotheses regarding how foot function among Homo taxa may have varied, and highlight key areas where our current knowledge is limited and where focused studies may prove fruitful.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Here and in all sub-headings that follow, dates are derived from Wood and Boyle (2016) unless otherwise specified.

  2. 2.

    A minimum age of 27 ka was published by Wood and Boyle (2016) but here this is revised to 108 ka, reflecting revised dates recently published for H. erectus specimens from Ngandong, Java (Rizal et al., 2020).

  3. 3.

    Dates derived from Dirks et al. (2017).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Kevin G. Hatala

  2. Department of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

    Eve K. Boyle

Authors
  1. Kevin G. Hatala
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  2. Eve K. Boyle
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Angel Zeininger

  2. Department of Biology, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Kevin G. Hatala

  3. Department of Biology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA

    Roshna E. Wunderlich

  4. Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Daniel Schmitt

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Hatala, K.G., Boyle, E.K. (2022). The Feet of Fossil Homo. In: Zeininger, A., Hatala, K.G., Wunderlich, R.E., Schmitt, D. (eds) The Evolution of the Primate Foot. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06436-4_15

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