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The Evolution Of Hominid Bipedalism, Michael J. Friedman '06
The Evolution Of Hominid Bipedalism, Michael J. Friedman '06
Honors Projects
Paleoanthropologists mark the divergence between apes and hominids with the adaptation ofbipedalism five to six million years ago. In this paper, I argue that while the first upright hominids occurred in this time frame, the process ofbecoming a fully efficient biped took much longer and was not complete until Homo erectus at 1.8 million years ago. To provide context to the puzzle ofhow and why our ancestors evolved upright walking, I examine many of the prevailing theories ofbipedal origins, including the aquatic ape hypothesis, the heat hypothesis, and the carrying hypothesis.
"Loss Of Estrus" And Concealed Ovulation In Human Evolution: A Reevaluation., Joshua S. Wagener '06
"Loss Of Estrus" And Concealed Ovulation In Human Evolution: A Reevaluation., Joshua S. Wagener '06
Honors Projects
Accounts ofhuman evolution tend to highlight a number ofsignificant characteristics as critical in defining humanity including bipedalism (Jolly 1970, Lovejoy 1981, Wheeler 1984), enlarged brains (Falk 1990, Foley 1996), hairlessness (Morris 1963, Schwartz and Rosenblum 1980), and language (pinker and Bloom 1990, Dunbar 1996). Less frequently, scholars have focused on the unique aspects of human sexuality. In this paper, I seek to demonstrate that sexual swellings are not the norm among alloprimates and that the prevailing absence ofestrus among female humans is better viewed as a derived trait which is no more unique than that of any other primate. As …