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Did the Human Hand Evolve as a Lean Mean Bone-Smashing Machine?
Smithsonian ^ | 07/13/18 | Meilan Solly

Posted on 07/16/2018 8:36:27 PM PDT by Simon Green

Scientists have long linked the evolution of the human hand—unique for its lengthy opposable thumbs and dexterous fingers—to the rise of stone tools some 2.6 million years ago. These instruments, from primitive chunks of rock used as makeshift hammers to sharp stone flakes created by striking one stone against another and even small handaxes, are typically attributed to Homo habilis, an ancient human species nicknamed “handy man” in honor of its theorized role as the first toolmaker.

Early hominins practiced an array of tool-related activities, including hunting, foraging and cooking. But according to a new study from researchers at Chatham University and the University of Kent, not all of these activities were created equal. The team’s findings, newly published in the Journal of Human Evolution, suggest that a specific behavior—smashing animal bones to access their marrow—had an outsized effect on the development of early hand anatomy.

“These behaviors all involve different materials, different end goals, and different patterns of force and motion for the upper limb,” the researchers note in their study. “Therefore, it is unlikely that each behavior exerted equal influence on the evolution of the modern human hand.”

Bone marrow is a tasty, high-energy food. Early humans who had hands more suited to smashing open bones and acquiring the delicious snack might have been better equipped to survive in the harsh conditions of prehistory, and thus more likely to pass their genes—and dextrous hands—on to the next generation. To test that hypothesis, the team asked 39 volunteers to don a manual pressure sensor system called Pliance and demonstrate a bevy of Pleistocene-era activities, like cracking nuts, acquiring marrow with the aid of a hammerstone, and chipping away flint to shape tools known as flakes.

(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; godsgravesglyphs; homohabilis; pleistocene
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1 posted on 07/16/2018 8:36:27 PM PDT by Simon Green
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To: Simon Green

According to 2001: A Space Odyssey


2 posted on 07/16/2018 8:46:16 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: Simon Green

It’s self evident that the human hand evolved to fit the 1911A1 Colt semiauto.


3 posted on 07/16/2018 8:50:31 PM PDT by matthew fuller (How many of today's voters have ever seen a half-dollar coin (or silver dollar)?)
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To: Simon Green

Bob is. What Bob is not, Bob becomes. Everything is Anything Anything can be Bob. Abracadabra.
4 posted on 07/16/2018 9:00:24 PM PDT by Celerity
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To: matthew fuller
It’s self evident that the human hand evolved to fit the 1911A1 Colt semiauto.

Can't argue with that.

5 posted on 07/16/2018 9:03:41 PM PDT by Simon Green ("Arm your daughter, sir, and pay no attention to petty bureaucrats.")
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
Thanks Simon Green.

6 posted on 07/16/2018 9:07:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: Simon Green

I thought the hand evolved to be able to fit into cracks where small tools always seem to fall and roll when the are accidentally dropped.


7 posted on 07/16/2018 9:09:48 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Spygate's clock began in 2015 - what did President Obama know and when did he know it)
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To: matthew fuller
If the human hand evolved to hold a 1911 this means the the 1911 was first and God is wise. :😀
8 posted on 07/16/2018 9:10:28 PM PDT by cpdiii (Cane Cutter, Roughneck, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist: THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR!)
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To: cpdiii

9 posted on 07/16/2018 9:12:24 PM PDT by Simon Green ("Arm your daughter, sir, and pay no attention to petty bureaucrats.")
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To: Simon Green

Nope, it did not.


10 posted on 07/16/2018 9:13:00 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Simon Green

Nonsense. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit,
was a devout evolutionist; everywhere a “hint” of evolution was supposedly found, he was there to unabashedly promote it. Sunking Cive is the modern day incarnation of this nut job.


11 posted on 07/16/2018 9:14:39 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: Simon Green

As often as it happens, I suspect the human hand evolved just so’s I could get my fingers broken.


12 posted on 07/16/2018 9:38:53 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: matthew fuller

13 posted on 07/16/2018 9:40:06 PM PDT by Hugin (Conservatism without Nationalism is ba fraud.)
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To: Simon Green

I’m focusing on the “tasty treat” of bone marrow. As a boy, my Eastern European parents would boil ham and a head of cabbage (quartered) and potatoes. The marrow from the ham bone (Schpick, to us) was added to boiled potatoes and smashed. Absolutely delicious. Fast forward to me in a high end, trendy restaurant that offered bone marrow and bread as an appetizer...for more than our entire meal as a lad cost.


14 posted on 07/16/2018 9:40:45 PM PDT by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
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To: Simon Green

15 posted on 07/16/2018 9:54:41 PM PDT by deadrock
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To: Simon Green

Or to care for babies.


16 posted on 07/16/2018 10:02:10 PM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: deadrock

Heh... STEVE! He’s sat in with Al DiMeola, alas, this is Grand Rapids, so there was no chance of his showing up with Al D and the band.

Nice profile page, I may have to do a straight steal of the logical fallacies graphic.


17 posted on 07/16/2018 10:14:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: Simon Green

No, it was created before the death of any creature.


18 posted on 07/16/2018 10:15:14 PM PDT by Bellflower (Who dares believe Jesus? He says absolutely amazing things, which few dare consider.)
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To: SunkenCiv

You are too kind. Help yourself.


19 posted on 07/16/2018 10:32:43 PM PDT by deadrock
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To: Simon Green

No, it evolved first in men concurrent with the discovery by early cave women of the “not tonight, I have a headache” excuse. So, if it were it not for the need for an appendage suitable for masterbation the entire human race would still be living in caves, they would all be democrats, and Hillary Clintrock would be president.


20 posted on 07/16/2018 11:20:36 PM PDT by TonyM (UPS)
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