02.02.

2021 Thumbs gave a 'form dable' advantage to our early ancestors - CNN

World
Thumbs gave human ancestors a 'form dable' advantage
By Kat e Hunt, CNN
 Updated 1607 GMT (0007 HKT) January 28, 2021

Researchers est mated how powerful the thumb was n some of our foss l human relat ves by v rtually model ng thumb muscles.

(CNN) — Whether we're text ng or us ng tools, our hands -- perhaps more than any other body part -- are what
equ p us for modern l fe.

The k ller app n the evolut on of our hands was our opposable thumbs, wh ch allow humans to prec sely hold t ny
th ngs between our f ngert ps and pad of our thumb.

When d d we f rst get th s unusual manual dexter ty?

It had been thought, based on compar sons of foss l zed bones to modern human skeletons, that t may have
emerged more than 3 m ll on years ago when our earl est ancestors -- the australop thec nes such as the famous
foss l Lucy -- started us ng bas c stone tools.

A new approach to th s quest on, however, suggests that wh le early hom n ns may have been dexterous, they d d
not have the powerful thumb typ cal of humans today unt l later, about 2 m ll on years ago. It was at th s t me an
early spec es of humans f rst left Afr ca, and our dexter ty could have been the dr v ng force beh nd a more complex
human culture that emerged then.

"Increased manual dexter ty n the form of e c ent thumb

oppos t on was among the early def n ng character st cs of our
l neage, prov d ng a form dable adapt ve advantage to our
ancestors," sa d paleoanthropolog st Kater na Harvat , a
professor at Eberhard Karls Un vers ty of Tüb ngen n Germany
and lead author of a new study that publ shed n the journal
Current B ology.

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02.02.2021 Thumbs gave a 'form dable' advantage to our early ancestors - CNN

"It s l kely a cruc al element underly ng the development of

World complex culture over the last 2 m ll on years, shap ng our
b ocultural evolut on."

Related Art cle: Don't tell 'Lucy,' but

modern-day apes may be smarter than
our evolut onary ancestors, sc ent sts say

The powerful thumb that character zes the human hand evolved only n some foss l hom n n
spec es around 2 m ll on years ago, the study suggested.

The researchers est mated how powerful the thumb was n some of our foss l human relat ves by v rtually model ng
a muscle n the thumb that s mportant for opposab l ty and the mot on that br ngs the thumb nto contact w th
other f ngers.

Th s nvolved compar ng the gr p of recent and early modern humans, l v ng ch mpanzees and s x d erent hom n n
spec es. Those s x spec es nclude one of the earl est -- Australop thecus afarens s (Lucy) -- and more recent
archa c humans such as Neanderthals who ex sted before and, n some cases, alongs de early Homo sap ens n
the centur es and m llenn a before we emerged as the lone hom n n surv vor.

The sc ent sts took nto account soft t ssue as well as bone anatomy.

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02.02.2021 Thumbs gave a 'form dable' advantage to our early ancestors - CNN

"Unt l now manual dexter ty has ma nly been assessed by

World s mply compar ng the foss ls w th the anatomy present n
humans, and assum ng that the more anatom cally s m lar a
foss l was to the modern human cond t on, the more s m lar n
ts dexter ty and manual capac t es," Harvat sa d v a ema l.

"However, th s v ew s relat vely s mpl st c, as s m lar e c ency

can be ach eved by d erent forms, and also because t d d
not take nto account the e ect of muscles. The latter s
extremely mportant, but of course s not preserved n the
foss l record."

Related Art cle: Neanderthals may have

used the r hands d erently from humans

Increased manual dexter ty as a result of a powerful thumb gave our early ancestors an edge,
paleoanthropolog st and lead study author Kater na Harvat sa d.

The earl est stone tool makers from the Australop thecus fam ly who l ved from around 2 m ll on to 3.8 m ll on years
ago d d not have the he ghtened manual dexter ty that later hom n ns d d, the researchers found. It would have
been more d cult to make prec se movements such as hold ng a pen for wr t ng, but these australop tchec nes
would have been able to use tools such as st cks and unmod f ed rocks -- a b t l ke ch mpanzees do n the w ld.

"The phalanges (f nger bones) of Australop thec ne hands were generally longer and more curved than those of
modern humans (though not as much as l v ng great apes). So, they would probably be able to shake your hand,
but t would l kely make a not ceable d erence," Harvat sa d.

The researchers' results suggested that the powerful thumb that character zes the human hand evolved only n
some foss l hom n n spec es around 2 m ll on years ago.

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02.02.2021 Thumbs gave a 'form dable' advantage to our early ancestors - CNN

At th s t me Homo erectus emerged -- the earl est humans to have body proport ons s m lar to Homo sap ens and
the f rst toWorld
d sperse from Afr ca -- as well as ev dence of systemat c butcher ng of hunted an mals and use of
aquat c resources. Stone tools also got more soph st cated and were used more hab tually, w den ng early human
d ets.

"Of course t s not poss ble to show a d rect assoc at on," Harvat sa d. "But we do see ncreased cultural
complex ty through t me n the foss l record after 2 m ll on years or so, wh ch s the age of the earl est foss l show ng
he ghtened thumb e c ency n our sample.

"Th s ncludes more systemat c use of stone tools, the gradual development of more complex stone tool ndustr es,
the gradual ncreased rel ance on an mal resources and, of course, the appearance of Homo erectus, a large
bra ned and larger bod ed hom n n, whose geograph c range expanded across Afr ca and Euras a."

The study also shed some l ght on Homo naled -- an en gmat c spec es of human relat ve f rst d scovered n 2015
deep ns de a cave system n South Afr ca.


It does challenge the not on of what s a human.

Prof. Lee Berger, Un vers ty of W twatersrand

L ttle s known about the l fe of th s human relat ve, and no tools have been assoc ated w th th s spec es. Its small
bra n and m x of modern and anc ent anatomy has long flummoxed sc ent sts. Homo naled had a fa rly powerful
thumb and would have been able to make and use stone tools, th s study suggested.

The study also found that Neanderthals and modern humans had a fa rly s m lar levels of dexter ty -- suggest ng t
was nher ted from a common ancestor.

Tracy K vell, a professor at the Un vers ty of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservat on n the Un ted
K ngdom, who wasn't nvolved n the research, sa d a lot of assumpt ons need to be made n th s k nd of analys s
because muscles are not preserved n the foss l record. It can, however, prov de some useful ns ghts and new
deas to test, she sa d.

K vell sa d the study authors d d "an excellent job of deal ng w th all of the complex t es nvolved n th s k nd of
research to make the r results as robust as poss ble."

"Many pr mates are capable of prec s on and power gr ps. However, humans are capable for forceful pad-to-pad
prec s on gr ps, for a wh ch a powerful thumb s a cr t cal component," she sa d v a ema l.

"It's often thought that th s ab l ty n humans evolved n response to tool use. Be ng able to e c ently make and use
tools (stone, bone, plant-based tools) would allow us to take advantage of new d etary resources that would
otherw se be unava lable or take more t me/energy to access."

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