BU Dialogues in Biological Anthropology—Babies, Brains, and Bipedality in Human Pelvic Evolution (1)

The distinctive human pelvis represents a delicate compromise between the demands of childbirth and upright bipedal locomotion. Scientists have long thought that our pelvis was remodeled from an ape-like form, in two stages: an initial reworking for bipedality in the genus Australopithecus around 4 million years ago, and a second reshaping in early Homo two million years later to permit the delivery of bigger-brained babies. But new discoveries about fossil hominids and living apes have raised doubts about this whole picture.

In this webcast from 2011, Prof. Steve Churchill (Duke University) and Prof. Karen Rosenberg (University of Delaware) present, discuss, and debate contrasting ideas about the influence of bipedality and birthing on the evolution of the human pelvis.

[annastebelskyj]

A very informative talk! Much appreciated, as my paleoanthropological education only obliquely touched on obstetrics as a factor in driving changes to pelvic morphology. All my professors wanted to talk about was the locomotive angle, and that was only a few years before this webcast (A. sediba hadn't even been formally described yet). Very interesting to think about the adaptive tradeoffs that had to happen in early Homo.