When considering hominin traits and their relation to modern humans, I think the most obvious trait we think about is bipedalism. Being bipedal does seem to drastically set humans apart from other apes aesthetically speaking. There seems to be something so human about the sight of someone standing straight and walking on two feet. Bipedalism has also deeply affected the change from primitive apes to human-like primates in terms of adaptability.

As we saw in the lectures this week, bipedalism started millions (I think six million but please correct me if I’m wrong) years ago. During this time, bipedal apes still had long arms and prehensile big toes on their feet. One way we know these apes were bipedal is by looking at their fossils. Studying fossils can reveal so much about how these animals lived, from the size and shape of their cranium’s providing useful data on the size of their brains to the varying lengths of arm bones and leg bones showing just how these creatures carried themselves, and importantly researchers can look at these fossilized skulls to determine where the foramen magnum is located and thereby understand how their spine connects to their skull. Through this, it can be determined whether or not the owner of the fossilized skull was bipedal.

Along with paleoecological evidence, observation of fossil remains suggest the very first bipedal apes still lived in forests climbing trees as opposed to spending much of their time walking on the ground. These features, along with their short statures and therefore short legs, meant that these apes were not suited to travel via walking long distances like we humans are today. Even though bipedal legs were used for different reasons then, they steadily became the bipedal legs we all use today. Bipedalism surely sets us apart from other animals and has provided modern humans with the equipment necessary to travel far and wide and to eventually establish ourselves globally such as we have today.

Another hominin trait that steadily evolves into what we have today is the shape and size of the brain. While pretty much all of the primates we learned about in the lectures this week had relatively smaller brains, when compared to homo sapien brains, that were about the same size a modern chimpanzees, I think it’s always important to consider the growth of the brain throughout the evolutionary branches of our primate ancestors. As hominins evolved over time, their bodies became more erect, their feet better designed for walking long distances, their mouths, teeth, and throats became better suited to a varied diet, their hands better for using tools, but the brain and the development of the mind is what truly made humans what they are today.

Undoubtedly, the growing size and changing structure of the hominin brain played a key role in the evolution of the modern man. I look forward to the discovery of even more fossils and learning just what mysteries there are yet to be revealed about the evolution of humanity.