The foot of Homo naledi

W. E. H. Harcourt-Smith (), Z. Throckmorton, K. A. Congdon, B. Zipfel, A. S. Deane, M. S. M. Drapeau, S. E. Churchill, L. R. Berger and J. M. DeSilva ()
Additional contact information
W. E. H. Harcourt-Smith: Lehman College CUNY
Z. Throckmorton: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
K. A. Congdon: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
B. Zipfel: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
A. S. Deane: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
M. S. M. Drapeau: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
S. E. Churchill: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
L. R. Berger: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
J. M. DeSilva: Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9432 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9432

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9432

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().