Dissertation Research: Functional Morphology of the Hominoid Back

这项研究的主要目的是了解和解释在人类祖先向两足动物过渡期间，人类背部发生的解剖学变化。这是人类学家非常感兴趣的生物学问题，其结果将直接关系到化石记录中运动行为的重建和向两足动物的转变。解决这一问题的第一步将是对猿类背部的肌肉骨骼解剖进行彻底的描述，并分析其在运动中的功能。这项拟议的研究将结合(1)人类、猿类和其他选定灵长类动物背部下胸腰部的骨量学比较；(2)同一物种这一区域肌肉的对比解剖；以及(3)对几个物种脊柱运动的放射成像分析，以便更客观地验证功能假说。人类学家目前对我们的前脚类祖先可能具有的姿势和运动特征，以及化石记录中完全现代的两足动物的鉴定存在分歧。这项研究的结果将有助于我们对活猿的运动分析和功能的了解，并确定几种类型灵长类动物直立姿势的解剖学关联。此外，它应该被证明对未来理解人类两足行走的起源是有价值的。

The primary objective of this research is to understand and interpret the anatomical changes that took place in the human back during the transition to bipedalism among our ancestors. This is a biological problem of considerble interest to anthropologists and the results will be directly relevant to reconstructing locomotor behavior and the transformation to bipedality in the fossil record. The first step in solving this problem will be to conduct a thorough description of the musculoskeletal anatomy of the back of apes and an analysis of its function in locomotion. The proposed study will combine (1) osteometric comparision of the lower thoracic and lumbar regions of the back among humans, apes, and other selected primates; (2) comparative dissections of the muscles of this region in the same species; and, (3) cineradiographic analysis of the movements of the vertebral column in several species, so that functional hypotheses can be verified more objectively. Anthropologists currently disagree on both the posture and locomotion that likely characterized our prebipedal ancestor and on the identification of fully modern bipedality in the fossil record. The results of this study will contribute to our knowledge of locomotor analysis and function in the living apes, and identify anatomical correlates to upright posture in several types of primates. Moreover, it should prove valuable to future understanding of the origin of human bipedalism.