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August 25, 2005
Feet Hurt? What Shoes May Have Done to Our Feet Over 26,000 Years Ago
A new study indicates that our species may have put on hard shoes between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago. The study published in Journal of Archaeological Science and reviewed on the BBC website indicates that by wearing shoes the four "lesser" toes, in other words all but the big toe, may have been weakened and become thinner.
But by examining the foot bones of early modern humans (Homo sapiens) and Neaderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) dating from 10,000 to 100,000 years ago, Professer Trinkaus says he has determined the period in which footwear became the norm.He found Neanderthals and early moderns living in Middle Palaeolithic times (100,000 to 40,000 years ago) had thicker, and therefore stronger, lesser toes than those of Upper Palaeolithic people living 26,000 years ago.
The usual caveats are in order. Afarensis wonders about "allometry and/or sexual dimorphism."
Posted by DuaneSmith at August 25, 2005 07:58 PM | Read more on Paleoanthropology |
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