Journal
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
Volume 12, Issue 106, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2015.0176
Keywords
grasping; Australopithecus; Neanderthal; manipulation; kinematic model; primates
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Funding
- Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation
- US National Science Foundation [IIS-0953856]
- European Research Council [336301]
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Div Of Information & Intelligent Systems
- Direct For Computer & Info Scie & Enginr [1317976] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Primates, and particularly humans, are characterized by superior manual dexterity compared with other mammals. However, drawing the biomechanical link between hand morphology/behaviour and functional capabilities in non-human primates and fossil taxa has been challenging. We present a kinematic model of thumb-index precision grip and manipulative movement based on bony hand morphology in a broad sample of extant primates and fossil hominins. The model reveals that both joint mobility and digit proportions (scaled to hand size) are critical for determining precision grip and manipulation potential, but that having either a long thumb or great joint mobility alone does not necessarily yield high precision manipulation. The results suggest even the oldest available fossil hominins may have shared comparable precision grip manipulation with modern humans. In particular, the predicted human-like precision manipulation of Australopithecus afarensis, approximately one million years before the first stone tools, supports controversial archaeological evidence of tool-use in this taxon.
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