The foot of Homo naledi.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Modern humans are characterized by a highly specialized foot that reflects our obligate bipedalism. Our understanding of hominin foot evolution is, although, hindered by a paucity of well-associated remains. Here we describe the foot of Homo naledi from Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa, using 107 pedal elements, including one nearly-complete adult foot. The H. naledi foot is predominantly modern human-like in morphology and inferred function, with an adducted hallux, an elongated tarsus, and derived ankle and calcaneocuboid joints. In combination, these features indicate a foot well adapted for striding bipedalism. However, the H. naledi foot differs from modern humans in having more curved proximal pedal phalanges, and features suggestive of a reduced medial longitudinal arch. Within the context of primitive features found elsewhere in the skeleton, these findings suggest a unique locomotor repertoire for H. naledi, thus providing further evidence of locomotor diversity within both the hominin clade and the genus Homo.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Harcourt-Smith, WEH; Throckmorton, Z; Congdon, KA; Zipfel, B; Deane, AS; Drapeau, MSM; Churchill, SE; Berger, LR; DeSilva, JM
Published Date
- October 2015
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 6 /
Start / End Page
- 8432 -
PubMed ID
- 26439101
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC4600720
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 2041-1723
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 2041-1723
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1038/ncomms9432
Language
- eng