Homo ergaster

HOMO ERGASTER

The Homo ergaster species lived in Africa 1.8 million years ago and was alive until 600,000 years ago, likely becoming the ancestor of Homo erectus in Asia, Homo neanderthalensis in Europe, and Homo sapiens in Africa (1995CachelS_HarrisJ; 2005KleinR). Homo ergaster is occasionally equated with Homo erectus in publications (2013TattersallI).

The most complete Homo ergaster skeleton belongs to an adolescent named "Turkana Boy" (KNM-WT 15000). The young man was between 8 and 12 years old (2010GravesRR_CunninghamDL; 2019BergmanJ). The age of this individual's remains is believed to be 1.6 million years (2007TattersallI).

Turkana Boy (reconstruction) Author: Mettmann Neanderthal Museum; source: wikimedia.org collection (license CC BY-SA 4.0, no changes).

The pelvis of specimen KNM-WT 15000 is well preserved. It shows ossified acetabulums. In turn, they have spacious acetabular fossae and wide acetabular notches. Based on these elements, it is possible to conclude that Homo ergaster had a ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF).

Left acetabulum of the pelvis of the «Turkana Boy» (c. 12 years old); epoxy resin cast, material from the educational collection of the Archaeology Research Laboratories, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (model Joy Mersman). [sketchfab.com]

We have studied the image of the proximal section of the right femur of the individual KNM-WT 15000 (researchgate.net). On the medial surface, almost in the center, the fossa of the femoral head is visualized (2018DeSilvaJM_BergerLR:Fig.2). We can distinguish a similar structure in the image of the upper third of the left femur of the same skeleton (2018CromptonRH_ClarkeR:Fig.7). The presence of the fossa of the femoral head is additional strong evidence in favor of the presence of LCF in the Homo ergaster species.

References

Cachel S, Harris J. Ranging patterns, land-use and subsistence in Homo erectus from the perspective of evolutionary ecology. In: Bower JRF, Sartono S (Eds). Human evolution in its ecological context (Proceedings of the Pithecanthropus Centennial 1893–1993 Congress). Leiden: Pithecanthropus Centennial Foundation, Leiden University, 1995:51-66.

Klein R. Hominin dispersals in the Old World. In: Scarre C (Ed). The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies. Thames & Hudson, 2005:84-123. [researchgate.net]

Tattersall I. Homo ergaster and its contemporaries. Handbook of paleoanthropology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2013:1633-53. [academia.edu]

Graves RR, Lupo AC, McCarthy RC, Wescott DJ, Cunningham DL. Just how strapping was KNM-WT 15000?. Journal of Human Evolution. 2010;59(5)542-54. [sciencedirect.com]

Bergman J. Turkana Boy Hurts Evolutionary Narratives, Oct 8, 2019. [crev.info]

Tattersall I. Homo ergaster and its contemporaries. Handbook of paleoanthropology. 2007;3:1633-53. [academia.edu]

DeSilva JM, Churchill SE, Zipfel B, Walker CS, Sylvester AD, McNutt EJ, ... Berger LR. Australopithecus sediba---The Anatomy of the Lower Limb Skeleton of Australopithecus sediba. PaleoAnthropology. 2018:357-405. [researchgate.net]

Crompton RH, McClymont J, Thorpe S, Sellers W, Heaton J, Pickering TR, ... Clarke R. Functional anatomy, biomechanical performance capabilities and potential niche of StW 573: an Australopithecus skeleton (circa 3.67 Ma) from Sterkfontein Member 2, and its significance for the last common ancestor of the African apes and for hominin origins. BIoRxiv. 2018;481556. [biorxiv.org]

Keywords

ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, doctrine, homo ergaster

The original text in Russian is available at the link: Homo ergaster

NB! Fair practice / use: copied for the purposes of criticism, review, comment, research and private study in accordance with Copyright Laws of the US: 17 U.S.C. §107; Copyright Law of the EU: Dir. 2001/29/EC, art.5/3a,d; Copyright Law of the RU: ГК РФ ст.1274/1.1-2,7

BLOG CONTENT

999–10 Kya

Comments

1802PalmeraniÁ

Palmerani Á , drawing Jacob wrestling with the angel (1802 ). Depicting the circumstances and mechanism of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) injury based on the description in the Book of Genesis: 25 And Ja cob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 26 And when he saw that he could not prevail against him, he struck against the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was put out of joint, as he was wrestling with him. … 33 Therefore do the children of Israel not eat the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he struck against the hollow of Jacob's thigh on the sinew that shrank. ( 1922LeeserI , Genesis (Bereshit) 32:25-26,33) More about the plot in our work: Ninth month, eleventh day ( 2024 АрхиповСВ. Девятый месяц, одиннадцатый день ). Ángel Palmerani – Jacob Wrestling with the Angel ( 1802); original in the a...

Human LCF intersection

HUMAN LCF INTERSECTION In the south of China, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the archaeological Neolithic site of Dingsishan was investigated. Burials of 355 people were found in this place. The authors of the article (2024YeZ_LiFJ) identified 91 skeletons with traces of manipulations with the remains. They are attributed to burials of the Dingsishan III-IV phase, aged 8.0-4.5 thousand years. 13 notches were found on the proximal part of various femurs. « Cutmarks on the femoral head, neck and intertrochanteric line, as well as along the medial linea aspera of the femoral shaft, suggest that soft tissue around the hip, including the iliofemoral ligament and the iliacus and adductor muscles, was severed to disarticulate the joint.» This and other postmortem bone injuries «... suggests that corpse treatment at Dingsishan included disarticulation » (2024YeZ_LiFJ). Figure 4 of the cited article shows the distribution and direction of cutmarks on human skeletons from Dingx...

1614PagniniS

Content [i] Annotation [ii] Original text (in Latin) [iii] English translation [iv] Source & links [v] Notes [vi] Authors & Affiliations [vii] Keywords [i] Annotation Fragment from the book: Pagnini S. Thesaurus linguae sanctae, sive lexicon hebraicum (1614, Vol. 1). The author examines the translation into Latin of the term denoting ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) in Hebrew biblical texts. The text in Russian is available at the following link: 1614PagniniS . [ii] Original text (in Latin) Quote, p. 392 ניר est Neruus Genesis 32.32 Idcirco non comedent (pro, comedunt) filij Israel ניר את neruum. Et Iesah 48.4 וניד & nerruus serreus ceruix tua: vel, secundum Rab. Dair. & virga ferrea: sic appellate, quòd nerui sint ceruice בניד in neruo Genes. 32.32. Iech 37.6. Et dabo super vos צירים neruos. Ijob 10. II ossibusq;...

1140St.Marie-Madeleine

Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene of Vézelay, capital s – Jacob with the Angel (1125 – 1140). Depicting the circumstances and mechanism of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) injury based on the description in the Book of Genesis: 25 And Ja cob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 26 And when he saw that he could not pre vail against him, he struck against the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was put out of joint, as he was wrestling with him. … 33 Therefore do the children of Israel not eat the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he struck against the hollow of Jacob's thigh on the sinew that shrank. ( 1922LeeserI , Genesis (Bereshit) 32:25-26,33) More about the plot in our work: Ninth month, eleventh day ( 2024 АрхиповСВ. Девятый месяц, одиннадцатый день ). Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene of Vézelay (1125 – 1140). Capital (...

2003IvanovYV

Ivanov YV, panel, wood carving – Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (2003). Variant of depicting the circumstances and mechanism of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) injury based on the description in the Book of Genesis: 25 And Ja cob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 26 And when he saw that he could not pre vail against him, he struck against the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was put out of joint, as he was wrestling with him. … 33 Therefore do the children of Israel not eat the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he struck against the hollow of Jacob's thigh on the sinew that shrank. ( 1922LeeserI , Genesis (Bereshit) 32:25-26,33) More about the plot in our work: Ninth month, eleventh day ( 2024 АрхиповСВ. Девятый месяц, одиннадцатый день ). Ivanov Yuri Vitalievich – Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (2003); im...

The First Scientific Mention

European science has known the LCF for about 2500 years. It is the most important functional connection of the hip joint. The first person to describe the LCF was Hippocrates (c. 460-370 BCE). A written mention of the LCF is found in §1 of his treatise "On the Instrument of redactions". In our opinion, a book created in the library of the Asclepeion of the island of Kos. Hippocrates did not dissection of the human body, did not operate on the hip joint, did not have a CT scan and MRI. How he could discover the LCF? In our view, it is possible that Hippocrates treated a patient with an open hip dislocation. Track Music: Blue Dot Sessions , Vittoro (CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED / fragment) keywords: ligamentum capitis femoris, ligament of head of femur, ligamentum teres, hip dislocation . ...

80-58bcApollonius Citiensis

Fragment from the treatise Apollonius Citiensis Commentary on the Hippocrates’ book On Joints ( Περὶ αρθρων π ραγματεὶα , 80-58 BC). The author notes the possibility of damage to the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) during hip dislocation. See our commentary at the link: 80-58bcApollonius Citiensis [Rus], and 2020ArkhipovSV_ProlyginaIV . Quote. [Grc] Περὶ αρθρων π ραγματεὶα . Βιβλιον γ ʹ . (original source: 1965KolleschJ_KudlienF, pp. 86, 88) Translation [Eng] Commentary On Joints ( Commentary on the Hippocrates’ book On Joints). Book 3. If the dislocated and displaced hip could not remain in place, then the physician [Hippocrates] would have clearly indicated the incurability of this case, so that we would not be led astray. Don't those who hold the opposite opinion know about the nature of joints, ligaments and the teachings about these things in general? After all, the physician considered the cause of the mild or, on the contrary, complex displacement and ...

1899ParsonsFG

An excerpt from the article by Parsons FG. The joints of mammals compared with those of man: a course of lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1899, pp. 301-306). The paper discusses the anatomy and presence of the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) in different animals. The author found in an experiment that in kangaroos, the LCF was stretched during hip extension. Below we publish an excerpt from the abstract and a critique of the lecture in the Lancet. THEJOINTS OF MAMMALS COMPARED WITH THOSE OF MAN: A COUBSE OF LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND. By F. G. PARSONS, F.R.C.S., late Hunterian Professor. PART II.-JOINTS OF THE HIND LIMB. THE HIP JOINT. SOME of the chief points which attract attention in the hip joint of man are the three thickened parts of the capsule called the ilio-femoral, ischio-femoral, and pubo-femoral ligaments, as well as the intra-articular ligamentum teres running from the bottom of the ac...

Homo antecessor. Hip disarticulation

HOMO ANTECESSOR. Hip disarticulation Postmortem separation of the leg from the pelvis in individuals of own species was performed by our evolutionary predecessors. In particular, this was done in the Homo antecessor community, which practiced cannibalism (2003TuttC). Ferna Y. et al. (1999) described evidence of intentional crushing of the femur diaphysis in a young individual (ATD6-76), presumably to extract bone marrow. The bone retained traces of not only several impacts by a striker, but also of an anvil on which the bone lay. The age of the said find in the Gran Dolina cave (Spain) is estimated at about 780 thousand years (1999FernaY_RosellJ). The above features indicate that the femur was initially separated from the soft tissues. In the second stage, the butcher had to use a stone tool to cut the muscles and strong external ligaments of the hip joint. In the next stage, he tore, or perhaps cut off, the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) to mobilize the hip and further manipul...

Vertebrates

VERTEBRATES According to the molecular clock, a specific method for dating phylogenetic events, vertebrates (Vertebrata) separated from arthropods (Arthropoda) 976±97 Ma (2004HedgesSB_ShoeJL). The latter began to dominate in species diversity with the Cambrian burst of radiation, which occurred 520 Ma (2010EdgecombeGD). This ratio in the fauna of the Earth is still preserved. Approximately 525 Ma, the phylum Chordates separated from the group of bilaterally symmetrical animals (1995ChenJY_ZhouGQ). In turn, the evolution of chordate organisms led to the formation of the first vertebrates at least 500 Ma, from which the jawed mouths 450-400 Ma descended, becoming the ancestors of the placoderms or "armored" fish (Placodermi) (1979 НаумовНП _ КарташевНН ). Sculptural reconstruction of the placoderm Coccosteus from the order Arthrodires, Middle Devonian, 393.3-382.7 Ma ; exposition of the Orlov Paleontological Museum (Moscow); photo by the author. The first cartilaginou...

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