Publication Date:
2024-04-03
Description:
The evolution of the medial longitudinal arch (MLA) is one of the most impactful adaptations
in the hominin foot that emerged with bipedalism. When and how it evolved in the human
lineage is still unresolved. Complicating the issue, clinical definitions of flatfoot in living Homo
sapiens have not reached a consensus. Here we digitally investigate the navicular morphology
of H. sapiens (living, archaeological, and fossil), great apes, and fossil hominins and its correlation with the MLA. A distinctive navicular shape characterises living H. sapiens with adult
acquired flexible flatfoot, while the congenital flexible flatfoot exhibits a ‘normal’ navicular
shape. All H. sapiens groups differentiate from great apes independently from variations in the
MLA, likely because of bipedalism. Most australopith, H. naledi, and H. floresiensis navicular
shapes are closer to those of great apes, which is inconsistent with a human-like MLA and
instead might suggest a certain degree of arboreality. Navicular shape of OH 8 and fossil
H. sapiens falls within the normal living H. sapiens spectrum of variation of the MLA (including
congenital flexible flatfoot and individuals with a well-developed MLA). At the same time,
H. neanderthalensis seem to be characterised by a different expression of the MLA.
Repository Name:
National Museum of Natural History, Netherlands
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
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