Hands capable of using tools might have evolved much earlier than previously thought according to a new study of Australopithecus finger bones. The re

Ancient hominin hands were a lot more like ours than we thought

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2024-10-22 19:00:06

Hands capable of using tools might have evolved much earlier than previously thought according to a new study of Australopithecus finger bones.

The researchers analysed muscle attachment sites on the fossilised hands of 3 species of Australopithecus: A. afarensis (lived 3.9–2.9 million years ago), A. africanus (3.3–2.1 million years ago) and A. sediba (about 1.98 million years ago).

These results were then compared to the hands of ancient and modern primates including modern humans, Neanderthal, gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan.

Muscle attachment areas on the fossil hands were determined based on differences in bone surface elevation, colouration and surface texture.

The results reveal that A. sediba and A. afarensis (most famously represented by the 3.2-million-year-old skeleton named “Lucy”) possessed an anatomy which would allow them to manipulate objects in a similar way to modern humans.

It perhaps isn’t a surprise that early hominins were capable of using tools. Chimpanzees – which split from humans evolutionarily about 6 million years ago – are known to use stones and sticks as tools in the wild.