A. afarensis The species lived between 3.7 and 2.9 million years ago to which he belonged as “Lucy” was a good walker, and had an upright gait biped. The discovery follows the discovery at the site of Hadar, Ethiopia, the foot bones of this species.

A group of researchers at the University of Missouri and Arizona State University led by Carol Ward has indeed found evidence that the arch was already present in our predecessor.

The bones found suggest that these hominids had a foot similar to that of modern man. Australopithecus afarensis had a smaller brain and a much more massive jaw and walked on two legs already, but scientists did not know if Lucy and her relatives had a more flexible lifestyle and spend more or less time in trees.

“The arches are a key element of the walk as that of man, as they absorb the shock and provide a solid platform to push the foot forward. We now know that those with ‘flat feet’ with a poor development of the arc is affected by problems that affect on the skeleton. ”

“Now that we know that Lucy and her relatives had the arch, we infer several things about them: where they lived, what they ate and how to escape predators,” said Ward, lead author of ‘article published Science describing the discovery. “The development of the arches has been a fundamental change in the human condition, because it means the abandonment of the big toe grip to grab the branches, and indicates that our ancestors had finally abandoned his life among the trees in favor of the field .

Australopithecus afarensis was thus able to roam the land and leave the forest when it was necessary to obtain more food. With his strong jaw, he could exploit different kinds of food such as fruits, seeds, nuts, roots, but the new ability to live in open spaces would open new possibilities for food supply.

The finding was made in Qesem Cave, a paleontological site in the first excavations were made in 2000. The cave was discovered in a limestone mountainous terrain about 11 miles east of Tel Aviv during the construction of a road.

Ran Barkai Avi Gopher and the Department of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University who directed the excavations, and Israel Hershkowitz Department of Anatomy and Anthropology at the university, along with an international team of scientists, conducted a morphological analysis of eight teeth found in human Qesem Cave.

This analysis, which included CT scans and X-rays indicates that the size and shape of the teeth are very similar to those common in the teeth of modern humans. These teeth agree very well with other evidence of the existence of modern man in Israel, dating back some 100,000 years ago, and discovered in other caves, including the Qafzeh, near Nazareth.

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For decades, there has been scientific debate about the causes of this mass extinction, and the two theories are advocated increased hunting after the arrival of humans in the territories occupied by these animals, and climate change.

William Ripple team (Oregon State University) believes that humans might be a factor but not in the way that most current theories suggest, simply by hunting animals to extinction, but because those competed ancient human against other predators, depriving them of potential prey.

In the late Pleistocene, the domain of large predators in North America enjoyed a precarious stability.

The authors of the new study is based, among other things, evidence suggests that there was a severe food shortages caused by environmental changes recorded makes 10,000 to 15,000 years.

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