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Human athletic paleobiology -

The use of sports as a conceptual framework allows us to study our “evolutionary trajectory, our capacity for adaptation, and the underlying biological mechanisms.”

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Human athletic paleobiology -

This branch of research uses athletes to study human adaptations. From limb biomechanics to metabolism and other aspects of human physiology and anatomy, human athletic paleobiology helps us understand how we evolved to become athletes.

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Skill and traits -

So, what are these skills and traits that we acquired throughout our evolution as a species that allow us to excel in various sports? Let’s take a look.

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We walk and run -

Ancient humans walked upright for millions of years. Becoming bipedal led to a number of body adaptations, particularly at a skeletal level.

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Hip adaptations -

Our pelvis became shorter and wider, when compared to other primates. Because unlike them, who use more of their backs and shoulders to walk on fours, we rely more on the muscles of our legs and glutes.

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Leg adaptations -

And just like our hips, our legs also adapted. Our lower femurs (the bone in our thigh) developed into a specific shape, known as the bicondylar angle, to allow us to walk better on two feet.

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Leg adaptations -

Homo sapiens have shorter Achilles tendons when compared to other human species. This adaptation allowed for walking and running long distances more effectively.

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Experts on two feet -

All these anatomical adaptations allow us to transfer our weight from side to side as we walk, enabling us to walk effectively, and pretty fast, too!

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Hunting -

Walking and running also had an evolutionary advantage when it came to hunting. It is believed that humans would run after animals such as antelope or zebra for long stretches during the hottest hours of the day and eventually run them to exhaustion.

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Running is key in many sports -

In summary, running did bring us a great advantage as bipedal creatures, and it’s a quintessential part of many sports.

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We sweat -

We have a pretty unique thermoregulation mechanism: we sweat. We are the only mammals who have the capacity to regulate body temperature by sweating all over our bodies in an effective way.

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It’s a hairy situation -

But there is one thing that helps our body’s evaporative cooling capacity: we lack hair. Chimps (our closest primate relatives) have roughly the same number of follicles as humans do, except they have a lot more hair covering their bodies.

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Hair -

But how did this evolutionary trait evolve? While we don’t know for sure, Charles Darwin proposed that we changed from thick, long fur to thin, short hair as a result of a sexual selection adaptation.

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Hairless was sexier -

Less hairy males seemed to have had an advantage in being selected for mating with females. Though sexual preference might have played a part in this adaptation, it’s more likely that environmental reasons played a bigger role in this evolutionary adaptation.

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Environmental reasons -

During our evolution in Africa, humans moved away from forests and into hot open spaces, where effective thermoregulation was a matter of life or death.

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Hairless and sweaty -

Less and finer hair meant that our bodies could sweat more effectively. Today, this allows us to practice numerous sports in hot conditions without worrying about overheating as rapidly as we would if we had fur coats.

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Upper body -

We have seen how our lower limbs adapted to life as bipedal creatures. But when it comes to our upper bodies, we still retain a few traits of our tree-dwelling ancestors.

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Glenohumeral joint -

A very good example includes our glenohumeral joint. This is essentially a ball and socket joint between our upper arm and scapula.

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Why is the glenohumeral joint so important? -

The glenohumeral joint allows us to swing our arms and make a full rotation. This is the movement we use for throwing or doing a butterfly swim stroke, for example.

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Throwing -

The ability to throw using force and accuracy can be traced back to our ancestors, Homo erectus. So we’re talking about at least two million years ago.

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Neanderthals -

Though it seems that Homo erectus were not the only ones capable of throwing. Neanderthals are believed to have thrown spears as a way to hunt at a distance.

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Throwing ancestors -

While most archaeological evidence points to spears just being used at short range, recent research shows otherwise after spear replicas were tested by trained javelin throwers.

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Spear research -

The result was astonishing, with spears reaching distances as far as 65 feet (19.8 m). We continue to use our throwing abilities to this day in numerous sports.

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We are handy -

Our hands are extraordinary, right? Our dexterity and the biomechanics of the human thumb, for instance, were present about two million years ago as well.

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Hands -

The metacarpal bones allow us to control how we apply force using opposable thumbs.

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Grip -

This is the basis of our grip, which can be applied in a variety of ways, from holding a baseball bat to gripping a pencil.

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Right-handed and left-handed ratios -

The vast majority of humans (an estimated 85%) are right-handed, and our ancestors apparently were no different. It’s believed that both Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens had about the same ratio as modern humans.

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Right-handed vs. left-handed -

Researchers believe this was due to a cooperative need in our communities, allowing for tools to be shared, for instance. Interestingly, the more competitive the sport, the greater the proportion of left-handed individuals.

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We play -

And we have done so for a very long time. Other animals play, but we seem to have evolved to teach our children how to play so they could develop a number of skills, including accuracy, power, and hand-eye coordination.

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We play with balls -

Ball games have been around for a while, with the oldest record dating back to around 2500 BCE. This was a ball made from rags and string that was found in the tomb of an Egyptian child. It goes without saying that our passion for playing with balls continues to this day and is the basis of many sports.

Sources: (Smithsonian Magazine) (American Journal of Biological Anthropology) (National Geographic) (Discover Magazine) (The Atlantic) 

See also: Signs of evolution you can find on your body

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