Abstract
The structures of the human hands and feet are shaped by evolution and its effects on the brain, skeleton and other structures, and on behavior. We used measurements obtained of hands and feet from living humans in Europe, the Americas (South and North) and Australia and images of hands and feet in cave art, paintings, and photographs obtained from the Web including some from Africa. We used the ratios of the third finger/width of hand and second toe/width of foot. We hypothesized that hand ratios would not have changed over millennia whereas, because of the use of footwear and mechanical locomotion, the ratios obtained from feet could have changed significantly. Here we report that statistical analyses and modeling confirmed our initial hypothesis.
Highlights
Obligatory bipedal posture and locomotion found in humans has resulted in evolutionary changes affecting the structure of the hands, of the feet and of other skeletal parts such as the spine and freed the hands for participation in artistic endeavors [1]
We hypothesized that measures of the ratios, width of hand/length of 3rd finger, and width of foot/length of 2nd toe in living humans compared to similar ratios depicted in ancient cave art, photographs and paintings obtained from the World Wide Web and from art books might give insight into changes in these ratios wrought by brain function and by artistic endeavors
Symbolic behaviors are dependent on the hands in humans whereas the foot is an instrument primarily for locomotion [4]
Summary
Obligatory bipedal posture and locomotion found in humans has resulted in evolutionary changes affecting the structure of the hands, of the feet and of other skeletal parts such as the spine and freed the hands for participation in artistic endeavors [1]. The foot has, throughout evolution, aided primarily locomotion but has not participated significantly in artistic and symbolic endeavors such as gestures. We hypothesized that measures of the ratios, width of hand/length of 3rd finger, and width of foot/length of 2nd toe in living humans compared to similar ratios depicted in ancient cave art, photographs and paintings obtained from the World Wide Web and from art books might give insight into changes in these ratios wrought by brain function and by artistic endeavors
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