Mystery solved. How and why human ancestors became upright.

[mistermack]

A new hypothesis:

All we have for the evolution of bipeds at the moment are weird and unlikely hypotheses, like the aquatic ape, or discredited ones like the Savannah Hypothesis.

Here is my own, the weapons hypothesis, which doesn't stretch the facts:

Six million years ago, our ancestors began to fight in a different way, with sticks and later spears, rather than fists and teeth.

This gave an advantage to those that could perform well on two feet, so the dominant ape in the group was no longer the biggest, strongest, with biggest canines, but the cleverest, nimblest, best performer on two feet, who had the intelligence to choose the best weapon.

This set in motion an evolutionary road that led to our ancestors feeling safer on solid ground, less reliant on trees for escape from predators, and selection pressure for more intelligence, rather than just strength and power.
After a while, the bands of apes with the best weapons skills saw off the bands without weapons, and were able to intimidate most predators, instead of running, by working together with crude spears.

You can't fight well with a stick or spear, unless you can stand up on two feet, and keep good balance, and manouevre efficiently. So the selection pressure for better bipedal performance has been there ever since, and quickly produced the changes in the feet, hips, knee joints, spine etc. etc.

So there you have it, the people working on digs should be looking for fossilized fighting sticks and crude spears, as well as stone tools.
The first stone tools, "choppers" were actually for making wooden weapons, in the first instance.
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[Trolldor]

Cool story bro.

[Animavore]

Where's the link for that article?

[mistermack]

Where's the link for that article?

That IS the article.

[Animavore]

Where's the link for that article?

That IS the article.

I know. I was just wondering where you got it from?

[mistermack]

Where's the link for that article?

That IS the article.

I know. I was just wondering where you got it from?

Out of my head.
It does match some of the facts, like why our jaws and canines changed.
We no longer no longer needed them as weapons, once we had sticks and spears.
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[Animavore]

Where's the link for that article?

That IS the article.

I know. I was just wondering where you got it from?

Out of my head.

Do you have any supporting evidence?

[Trolldor]

No, he does not, nor will he ever.
Science is not his strong suit.

[mistermack]

Where's the link for that article?

That IS the article.

I know. I was just wondering where you got it from?

Out of my head.

Do you have any supporting evidence?

Only circumstantial stuff.
You can make a case that losing the big canines strongly indicates that the males were fighting in a completely different way, or that they stopped fighting for dominance.
Also, two footed apes would NEED a weapon, having lost the ability to shoot up a tree in a flash.
Also, the first "choppers" have been found to have traces of wood in the cutting edge, when examined under electorn microscopes, so that dates some sort of woodworking to 2.6 mya.
No direct evidence for six or seven million years ago though.
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[mistermack]

No, he does not, nor will he ever.
Science is not his strong suit.

If I had direct evidence, I would be posting it somewhere else. It's a hypothesis for discussion.
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[Animavore]

That IS the article.

I know. I was just wondering where you got it from?

Out of my head.

Do you have any supporting evidence?

Only circumstantial stuff.
You can make a case that losing the big canines strongly indicates that the males were fighting in a completely different way, or that they stopped fighting for dominance.
Also, two footed apes would NEED a weapon, having lost the ability to shoot up a tree in a flash.
Also, the first "choppers" have been found to have traces of wood in the cutting edge, when examined under electorn microscopes, so that dates some sort of woodworking to 2.6 mya.
No direct evidence for six or seven million years ago though.
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Then why aren't chimps and bonobos weapon using apes if they came from the same ancestor 6-7 million years ago?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Which did humans do more, fight or gather food?

[mistermack]

Then why aren't chimps and bonobos weapon using apes if they came from the same ancestor 6-7 million years ago?

They exploited a different niche. The fact that we split doesn't automatically mean that they should become extinct.
There is evidence for the split that's undeniable. This is just offering an explanation of what happened to our own ancestors. It doesn't mean that those that didn't adopt weapons should ALL be wiped out. They may have lived in much thicker forest, where there was less advantage to foraging on the ground, and you can't carry a weapon easily up in the trees.
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[Animavore]

Then why aren't chimps and bonobos weapon using apes if they came from the same ancestor 6-7 million years ago?

They exploited a different niche. The fact that we split doesn't automatically mean that they should become extinct.
There is evidence for the split that's undeniable. This is just offering an explanation of what happened to our own ancestors. It doesn't mean that those that didn't adopt weapons should ALL be wiped out. They may have lived in much thicker forest, where there was less advantage to foraging on the ground, and you can't carry a weapon easily up in the trees.
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But the evidence shows bipedal walking was the earliest adaptation of humans. No evidence of weapons come 'til much later.

[mistermack]

Which did humans do more, fight or gather food?

It's not so much what you do more of, it's what affects your ability to sire offspring.
Fighting and becoming dominant gives a better chance of that. That's why Chimps and Gorillas have huge canines, and long jaws, they are a fighting weapon, which we lost.
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