Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

 “Pending further evidence we are left with the vision of intermediately sized animals, at home in the trees, capable of climbing, performing degrees of acrobatics and perhaps of arm suspension” (Oxnard 1975a, p. 89). See our Figure 11.11, p. 714.

 

Figure 11.11. Most scientists describe Australopithecus as an exclusively terrestrial biped, humanlike from the head down. But according to some studies by S. Zuckerman and C. E. Oxnard, Australopithecus was more apelike. Although capable of walking on the ground bipedally (left), Australopithecus was also “at home in the trees, capable of climbing, performing degrees of acrobatics [right] and perhaps of arm suspension” (Oxnard 1975a, p. 89). The unique functional morphology of Australopithecus led Zuckerman and Oxnard to doubt it is a human ancestor. Illustrations by Miles Tripplett.

11.8 .2 The Pelvis of Australopithecus

Of particular interest is the Australopithecus pelvis. Scientists who believe humans evolved from australopithecines often assert that the Australopithecus pelvis is similar to that of modern Homo sapiens. In both humans and australopithecines, the ilium, the broad upper part of the pelvis, is of roughly the same shape. The ilium of the chimp is more narrow (Figure 11.12). Some researchers have taken the visual resemblance between the human ilium and that of Australopithecus as proof that Australopithecus stood upright and walked very much like modern human beings.

But the impact of this demonstration is reduced when one considers the orientation of the ilium to the rest of the pelvis in apes, humans, and australopithecines. The comparison can best be made when the hip sockets are turned toward the viewer (Figure 11.13).

As can be seen, the ape ilium is situated in a manner different from that of a human being. The ape’s iliac blade is oriented so that only the edge is visible.

In Australopithecus, the ilium is oriented like that of apes rather than humans (Oxnard 1984, p. 311). To Oxnard and Zuckerman, this suggested apelike or uniquely nonhuman elements in the musculature, posture, and locomotor pattern of Australopithecus.

The typical visual presentation of the human ilium and that of Australopithecus, showing both to be of the same shape, is therefore somewhat deceptive, in that their different orientations are usually not mentioned.

Even the claimed similarity in shape of the ilium in Australopithecus and human beings is not complete in all respects. Zuckerman (1954, p. 345) observed: “When the least breadth of the ilium is expressed as a percentage of the greatest breadth. . . . the [australopithecine] fossils are pongid [apelike].”

Figure 11.12. In Australopithecus (right) and a modern human (center), the broad iliac blade of the pelvis is of similar shape. Some have taken this as proof that australopithecines walked upright in human fashion. A chimpanzee ilium (left) is shaped differently. After Oxnard (1975a, p. 53), not to scale.

Figure 11.13. When the pelvis is viewed with the hip socket toward the observer, the ilium of Australopithecus (left) is oriented like that of the chimpanzee (right) and not like that of the human being (center). This, and other features of the australopithecine pelvis, indicated to Oxnard and Zuckerman that Australopithecus was capable of quadrupedal and tree-climbing behavior similar to that of the orangutan. After Oxnard (1975a, p. 55), not to scale.