One hominin trait that I believe is very interesting to learn about is bipedalism. Bipedalism is something that I have never even thought about, as walking on two legs has always been such a given that I never thought about how it came to be. The earliest form of bipedalism seems to about 6 to 7 million years ago when hominins were forced to walk upright in order to survive. This is seen in fossils when examining the placement of the hominin’s foramen magnum, because when the foramen magnum is located under the skull it means that the hominin was likely bipedal. What’s interesting about these hominins is that while they were bipedal, they did not use bipedalism as early humans did. The hominins 6 to 7 million years ago did not take full advantage of bipedalism like early humans did by traveling great distances while hunting and gathering. This means that while these hominins were similar to humans, they were still much different in behavior. 

Another trait that I found very compelling was the dental structure of hominins, specifically the size of their canines. The fact that having large canines is not associated with eating meat is something I didn’t know. Large canines are instead useful when fighting or defending yourself against other animals, which suggests why nearly all early hominins had large canines. These hominins often had to fight for food or resources and having large canines was very useful. Also, being bipedal leads to smaller canines, since fighting strategy is much different. When fighting as a bipedal we use our arms and legs as primary weapons, whereas hominins that are not bipedal often lead with their face, or more specifically, their teeth. Therefore having larger canines is necessary when not being bipedal. This is something I never thought of before but really makes a lot of sense. 

Lastly, brain size is an easily identifiable trait that shows the slow evolution of early hominins. The size of the brain in most of the early hominins discussed in the lectures were “chimp-sized” or about 450 cubic centimeters. This shows that despite other traits changing for the hominins, brain size stayed relatively the same for a pretty long period of time. I feel like this shows the complexity of the brain compared to other features and that the brain does not vary as much as other physical attributes. Humans obviously have large brains, meaning brain size did eventually increase substantially.

Fossilized skeletons are extremely important in learning about the past because they can show how evolution has occurred and how it may occur in the future. This is very significant because if we know how things have happened in the past, we may be able to predict what could happen to humans or other animals. Fossilized skeletons give us so much information on body developments which help scientists put together an accurate picture of what the early hominin or other animal looked like. It also alludes to how the animal behaved, as body structure often relates to normal behavior.