Re-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis

dc.contributor.authorBlaszczyk, Maria B
dc.contributor.authorVaughan, Christopher L
dc.date.accessioned2018-04-06T08:40:27Z
dc.date.available2018-04-06T08:40:27Z
dc.date.issued2007
dc.date.updated2016-01-18T09:06:49Z
dc.description.abstractThe unveiling in October 2004 of the remains of a pygmy-sized hominin recovered from a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia, sparked an intense series of debates within the palaeoanthropology community. The discoverers diagnosed it to be a new species of Homo, which they called Homo floresiensis, and they interpreted the postcranial morphology as being 'consistent with human-like obligate bipedalism'. We have examined the morphology with the aim of determining whether biomechanical evidence supports the claim that this hominin - known as LB1 - was indeed habitually bipedal. LB1's innominate bone differs from that of modern humans through the marked lateral flaring of the ilium, while her femur has a small head and a relatively long neck. Although these features are also found in australopithecines and are commonly regarded as 'primitive' traits, we concluded that none would have prevented her from exhibiting an efficient, bipedal gait. Having established that LB1 walked on two legs, we employed the principle of dynamic similarity to speculate how she might have walked. Assuming the gait of LB1 was dynamically similar to that of modern Homo sapiens, we used known dimensionless parameters, together with her leg length (0.55 m), to estimate her fundamental gait parameters : step length = 0.45 m, step frequency = 2.48 steps / second and speed = 1.11 m/s. Our review has provided insights regarding the way in which LB1 and her fellow diminutive hominins walked about the island of Flores over 18 000 years ago.
dc.identifier.apacitationBlaszczyk, M. B., & Vaughan, C. L. (2007). Re-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis. <i>South African Journal of Science</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27767en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBlaszczyk, Maria B, and Christopher L Vaughan "Re-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis." <i>South African Journal of Science</i> (2007) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27767en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBlaszczyk, M. B., & Vaughan, C. L. (2007). Re-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis: research letter. South African Journal of Science, 103(9 & 10), 409-414.
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Blaszczyk, Maria B AU - Vaughan, Christopher L AB - The unveiling in October 2004 of the remains of a pygmy-sized hominin recovered from a cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia, sparked an intense series of debates within the palaeoanthropology community. The discoverers diagnosed it to be a new species of Homo, which they called Homo floresiensis, and they interpreted the postcranial morphology as being 'consistent with human-like obligate bipedalism'. We have examined the morphology with the aim of determining whether biomechanical evidence supports the claim that this hominin - known as LB1 - was indeed habitually bipedal. LB1's innominate bone differs from that of modern humans through the marked lateral flaring of the ilium, while her femur has a small head and a relatively long neck. Although these features are also found in australopithecines and are commonly regarded as 'primitive' traits, we concluded that none would have prevented her from exhibiting an efficient, bipedal gait. Having established that LB1 walked on two legs, we employed the principle of dynamic similarity to speculate how she might have walked. Assuming the gait of LB1 was dynamically similar to that of modern Homo sapiens, we used known dimensionless parameters, together with her leg length (0.55 m), to estimate her fundamental gait parameters : step length = 0.45 m, step frequency = 2.48 steps / second and speed = 1.11 m/s. Our review has provided insights regarding the way in which LB1 and her fellow diminutive hominins walked about the island of Flores over 18 000 years ago. DA - 2007 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - South African Journal of Science LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2007 T1 - Re-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis TI - Re-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27767 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/27767
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBlaszczyk MB, Vaughan CL. Re-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis. South African Journal of Science. 2007; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27767.en_ZA
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.sourceSouth African Journal of Science
dc.source.urihttps://www.sajs.co.za/
dc.titleRe-interpreting the evidence for bipedality in Homo floresiensis
dc.typeJournal Article
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
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