Re: News on inner ear and upright walking
Pete Vincent (VINCENT@TRIUMF.CA)
28 Jun 1994 21:04:20 GMT
In <2uf9ev$okf@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> cfitzger@s.psych.uiuc.edu writes:
` The claim has been made that the inner ear arrangment which
` affects balance shows Homo erectus to be the first habitually
` upright walker. Is there more information available on this,
` and what are the implications?
Yes, I was going to raise this but you've beat me. I heard this on the
radio this weekend: a Dr. Wood(s?) from the UK made the claim that
analysis of inner ear systems in all hominid skull types, by cat
scan, indicated that australopithicines had balance systems more
like chimps than humans, and therefore would not have been able to
walk upright. This seems to fly in the face of pelvic structure
evidence, which indicates an upright stance for Aus., and in fact
as I recall their knees are thought to have not been able to lock,
which would make me think they would need an enhanced sense of balance.
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vincent@triumf.ca <== faster % Pete Vincent
vincent@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca % Disclaimer: all I know I
% learned from reading Usenet.
|