Re: Dissecting the Aquatic Ape: Bipedalism

Richard Foy (rfoy@netcom.com)
Mon, 8 Jul 1996 00:30:43 GMT

In article <Du6ACE.9B1@inter.NL.net>,
Gerrit Hanenburg <ghanenbu@inter.nl.net> wrote:
>rfoy@netcom.com (Richard Foy) wrote:
>
>>>I have hair on the backs of my hands and on the proximal phalanx
>>>of each finger, whereas the last two phallanges of each finger are
>>>hairless. These latter would have been in contact with the ground
>>>and possessed knuckle pads had my ancestors ever knuckle-walked.
>>>Is this a common hss feature? If so, is it evidence of a knuckle-
>>>walking lca?
>
>>I don't know if it is a common feature or not but my fingers are like
>>that as well.
>
>Skeletal features associated with knuckle-walking are:
>
>-dorsally extended articular surface of the head of the metacarpals
>associated with hyperextension of the metacarpophalangeal joint.
>-a transverse bony ridge on the dorsum of the metacarpals to prevent
>the joint from collapsing under the weight of the body.
>-widest diameter of the metacarpal heads located dorsally.
>-proximal phalanges short relative to length of the metacarpals in
>relation to humans and orang-utans.
>And further:
>-distal articular surface of the radius deeply concave.
>-bony ridges on scaphoid and dorsal distal radius stabilizing the
>wrist joint.
>
>None of the above features are found in fossil hominids.
>Shouldn't we concentrate on these fossilizable characters when it
>comes to assessing locomotor behaviour of extinct ancestors,instead of
>relying on such practically untestable features as lack of hair on the
>median segment of the fingers?
>On the basis of the above mentioned skeletal features associated with
>knuckle-walking we can at least make the testable prediction that if
>the LCA was a knuckle-walker,fossils of it will show these features.
>
>And btw,I *do* have hair on the median segments of my fingers.

Well, I just thought I would put in my two cents worth. There is so
much hostility towrds Crowley that I thought it might be a good idea
to provide a bit of data that supports him. :-)

-- 

"The form is the content in motion, and the content is the form at

rest."  --Northrup Frye



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