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Complex topography and human evolution: the missing link

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Isabelle C. Winder ,
Geoffrey C.P. King ,
Maud Devès  and
Geoff N. Bailey
Isabelle C. Winder*
Affiliation:
1Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK (Email: isabelle.winder@york.ac.uk; geoff.bailey@york.ac.uk)
Geoffrey C.P. King
Affiliation:
2Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS, Paris, France (Email: king@ipgp.fr; deves@ipgp.fr) 1Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK (Email: isabelle.winder@york.ac.uk; geoff.bailey@york.ac.uk)
Maud Devès
Affiliation:
2Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS, Paris, France (Email: king@ipgp.fr; deves@ipgp.fr)
Geoff N. Bailey
Affiliation:
1Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK (Email: isabelle.winder@york.ac.uk; geoff.bailey@york.ac.uk)
*
*Author for correspondence
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Why did humans walk upright? Previous models based on adaptations to forest or savannah are challenged here in favour of physical incentives presented by steep rugged terrain—the kind of tectonically varied landscape that has produced early hominin remains. “Scrambler man” pursued his prey up hill and down dale and in so doing became that agile, sprinting, enduring, grasping, jumping two-legged athlete that we know today.

Keywords

AfricaKenyaSouth Africahomininsbipedalismterrestrialisationtectonic landscaperift valleys

Information

Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 336 , 1 June 2013 , pp. 333 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2013

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