Though human race are far from the only animals who are able of using pecker , we can use them more efficiently than any other species on the satellite . This ability is not just due to our highly evolved brains , but also because of the unequaled morphology of our hands . There used to be a reasonably large gap in our evolutionary history about where certain features of our tool - friendly hands come in from , but the discovery of a 1.42 million year onetime helping hand os has bridged that gap . The results hail from lead author Carol Ward from the University of Missouri and were publish in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
A 1.42 million - yr - old metacarpal bone was discovered at a dodo site in Kenya . It was attributed to the early human species Homo erectus , and has a very important feature film : a styloid cognitive operation . The styloid procedure is a small bony bump at the proximal end of the bone , and can be find on several bones in the body . In the hand , it connects the hand to the articulatio radiocarpea and allows much more press to be apply to a closed script while grip an object , like when swinging a hammer . This is vital to the ability to make and use cock much more effectively . The emergence of the styloid cognitive process may have also been loose on the wrist joint , which could have staved off the onrush of arthritis .
This find is very significant because it pushes back the development of this bony landmark back by about 600,000 years . It has been find out in relatively recent human mintage like Neanderthals , but it has n’t been clear-cut where the trait emerged . Now , it come out that Homo erectus may be the earliest common ancestor with a styloid operation .
The fossil site where the metacarpal was strike also had many pit dick in the area , reaching as far back as 1.6 million year ago . Some of these tools include axes and hammer . Theearliest grounds of stone prick useis around 3.4 million years old . As there were many unlike hominin groups living at the time of Homo erectus , those individuals with a styloid process likely had a very declamatory vantage over those that did not .
