SUPERHANDS! Fossils of early human ancestors reveal a GRIPPING development

Ancestors of humans who lived around three to two million years ago appear to have had the ability to use their hands in a very similar way to how we grip tools today, according to a new study from anthropologists. Power "squeeze" gripping and forceful precision employed by humans were understood to relate to a reduction in …

[ZSn]

hand shandy

And here I was thinking that we came down from the trees assumed an upright posture and developed a grip for ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: hand shandy

And here I was seeing how long it would take someone to make a comment like that.

This is really interesting because *australopithecus predates homo, so perhaps tool use goes back a lot further than previously thought. I hope someone will come here and enlighten us.

[Grikath]

Re: hand shandy

Australopithecus already used tools, and posessed rudimentary stone knapping techniques.

Mind.. you can do quite a lot without a "powergrip" opposable thumb, so rather than "tool use" this little bit of info shifts precision tool use ( and the whole brain development thing) back quite a bit.

[ZSn]

Re: hand shandy

Tool use probably goes back further. Even Corvidae use tools (quite well from the clips I've seen, even with problems that they've never seen before). Though though they only have a beak not a 'forceful' precision grip.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: hand shandy

Although juveniles will still try and remove a nut with a torque wrench

[Eddy Ito]

Re: hand shandy

remove a nut with a torque wrench

Even though a torque wrench is a precision tool, please tell me you're talking about a nut in the hardware sense and not, well, something else.

The one with the filberts in the pocket.

[Andrew Meredith]

Re: hand shandy

>>so perhaps tool use goes back a lot further than previously thought<<

I saw a prog on the goggle the other night saying that expertly worked flint had been found in layers significantly predating Homo S. They also stated that Homo Neanderthalensis was expert in tool making including flint knapping.

[Anonymous Coward]

So the reason mankind invented kung fu...

Was because we already had kung-fu grip?

[Isn't it obvious?]

This was on Q&Q today...

And the study was only published Thursday? That's pretty impressive, to have researched it, prepped the host and taped an interview to air at noon on Saturday.

The whole bit about the trabecular bone patterns was quite interesting, really. They change from repeated stress, so you can infer what kind of work/tool use someone did from the preserved remains. It means that it's possible to detect the effects of tool use, even if the tools themselves did not survive.

[Rob 5]

On the gripping hand...

That is all.

[Doctor Syntax]

The comment on the New Scientist report at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26844-human-ancestors-got-a-grip-on-tools-3-million-years-ago.html#.VMIwqv6sXTo give this a different slant. The squeeze grip is related to climbing (my first reaction to reading the report here was much the same) and the precision grip has a possible alternative origin in peeling fruit.

[jake]

Sadly, several million years later ...

... all ElReg+readers find a use for this is one/zero "thumbs".

Bloody waste of evolution, that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Designed from the first...

To grip a beer mug!!

[Swarthy]

Gripping Article!

Keep up the good work!