The hands and wrists bones of Ardi, the substantially complete skeleton of a 4.4 million year-old Ardipithecus ramidus discovered in Ethiopia, are virtually intact, and they show curiously non-ape like aspects. She had extremely long fingers and an opposable thumb, with a comparatively narrow palm. The joints of her hands were flexible, allowing her to support her weight on her palms. Ardi had a generalized, dexterous, grasping hand unlike any modern apes, suggesting that our ancient ancestor never walked on her knuckles or climbed trees vertically or suspended herself from tree limbs.
Sources and Further Information
Lovejoy, C. O., et al. 2009 Careful Climbing in the Miocene: The Forelimbs of Ardipithecus ramidus and Humans Are Primitive. Science 326:70e1-70e8.
- Ardipithecus ramidus, the blog post, which has links to recent news stories
- Lucy, famous Australopithecus afarensis
- Hominin
- Aramis, Ethiopia
- Bipedal locomotion
- Stable Isotope Analysis
- Phytoliths
- Middle Awash
