Bipedalism caused tool making

[Rokcet Scientist]

Human Hands Tool-Making Ability Triggered by Ability to Walk on Two Feet

Scientists may have solved the mystery of how human hands became nimble enough to make and manipulate stone tools.The team discovered that changes in our hands and fingers were a side-effect of changes in the shape of our feet, which shows that the capacity to stand and walk on two feet is intrinsically linked to the emergence of stone tool technology. The scientists used a mathematical model to simulate the changes.

"This goes back to Darwin's The Descent of Man," said Campbell Rolian, a scientist from the University of Calgary in Canada who led the study. "Darwin was among the first to consider the relationship between stone tool technology and bipedalism. His idea was that they were separate events and they happened sequentially - that bipedalism freed the hand to evolve for other purposes. What we showed was that the changes in the hand and foot are similar developments... and changes in one would have side-effects manifesting in the other." [...]

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