The foot of Homo naledi

Authors

W. E. H. Harcourt-Smith, CUNY Lehman College
Z. Throckmorton, University of the Witwatersrand
K. A. Congdon, University of the Witwatersrand
B. Zipfel, University of the Witwatersrand
A. S. Deane, University of the Witwatersrand
M. S. M. Drapeau, University of the Witwatersrand
S. E. Churchill, University of the Witwatersrand
L. R. Berger, University of the Witwatersrand
J. M. DeSilva, University of the Witwatersrand

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

October 2015

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.

Comments

This work was originally published in Nature Communications, available at doi:10.1038/ncomms9432..