Did Humans’ Unique Skeletal Architecture Evolve?
A new attempt to prove evolution of upright walking
actually supports intelligent design
by Jerry Bergman, PhD
A new research project is touted as not only supporting the evolution of the human skeleton, but also as providing “new insights into the evolution of the human skeletal form.”[1] The introduction to the report on the research observed that
Humans are the only great apes to routinely walk on two legs, a posture that relies on us having long legs, short arms and narrow hips. A study, published this week in Science, has generated a map of genomic regions that could explain how our unique skeletal architecture evolved.[2]
Because bipedal locomotion is critical to a large number of human achievements, the question that must be asked is why are humans the only great apes, actually the only mammal, to exclusively walk on two legs? The many major advantages of bipedal walking include:
1. Bipedal walking was so important that evolutionists claim that it was one of the first traits that defined the evolution of early hominins. Bipedal walking allowed greater hind limb joint extension, which reduced energy costs and increased endurance.[3]
2. Thus, human bipedal travel is much more efficient than bipedal or quadrupedal locomotion in chimpanzees. Evolutionists therefore reasoned that bipedalism conferred an energetic advantage on the Miocene hominoid ancestors of Hominidae.[4]
The unique human skeletal form frees this chainsaw artist’s hands to make detailed carvings from a block of wood.
3. A main advantage of bipedal walking is that it frees human hands to make and use tools, to produce fire, grow crops, and do all the things that require two hands. In other words, the bipedal gate was so important to human evolution that evolutionists conclude
If primates had not switched to walking on two legs millions of years ago, it is unlikely that it would have freed two hands for humans to make use of tools. So, bipedal locomotion …. could be thought of as one of the most significant advances in our evolutionary history. Now, scientists claim to have found the gene which made that possible.[5]
The Research Methodology Used in the Bipedalism Research
The research methodology of Kun et al., used 31,221 full-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) images obtained from the UK Biobank. To determine the human morphology involved in bipedal locomotion, they created 23 different image-derived phenotypes that included all long-bone lengths and hip and shoulder widths which were analyzed controlling for height. They were then able to locate the genes that controlled the traits the researchers measured. Last, they compared their data with modern ape skeletal design.
Kun et al. concluded that bipedalism required numerous major differences in the skeletal design from apes in order to stabilize the human upright position. These differences included shorter arm-length relative to leg-length, a narrow body frame and pelvis, and a different orientation of the vertebral column. The research did not lend any support to human evolution, and required significant speculation to postulate evolution from chimps to the human-body design. Kun et al. speculated that these many major
changes to skeletal proportions (SPs) likely began to occur [evolve] around the separation of the human and chimpanzee lineages, and as a result, may have facilitated the use of tools and accelerated cognitive development. Fossil evidence showing major morphological changes in the length of the limbs, torso, and body width suggest that these changes were gradual, with incremental development over the course of several million years. However, despite more than a hundred years of effort in paleoanthropology documenting morphological changes of the skeletal form in human evolution, evidence of genomic change has been elusive.[6]
Problems with the Research
Assuming that our common ancestor skeleton was close to a modern chimp, comparisons were made between modern humans and modern chimps/apes, not pre-humans (see Figure 1). This comparison was made because paleoanthropologists do not have useful skeletal collections of even a hypothetical common ancestor. Most of the evidence for human evolution consists mostly of skull fragments and a few skeletal bones, often fragments.[7] The most complete pre-human skeletons are Lucy (20 percent complete by weight, as many bones are fragments) and Little Foot. Little Foot, the only known virtually complete Australopithecus fossil discovered to date, is claimed to be 90 percent complete.[8] However, debate exists as to whether australopithecines are another extinct primate or a human ancestor. Evolutionists currently date Little Foot as 3.67 million years old.[9] To prove the evolution of bipedal locomotion, what would be required would be to determine the same genes and bones of our common ancestor, and then trace the genetic changes leading up to modern humans. This comparison cannot be made due to lack of physical evidence of pre-humans.
The comparison of modern humans with modern ape-chimps. From Kun, E. et al., 2023.
A major assumption of the research was that certain segments of the ape genome were conserved throughout vertebrate and great-ape evolution. Consequently, this assumes that the ape skeleton has not changed since they first appeared in the fossil record.
Because the skeleton of humans is notably different compared to all apes, it was assumed that, although modern apes experienced little change during the last 100 million years, the human skeleton has changed enormously during the same time! Consequently, the researchers assumed that comparing modern chimps to modern humans should be a valid measure of the difference between modern humans and our pre-human ancestors. Because this is a very untenable assumption, the evolutionary conclusions of the authors are very problematic.
Conclusions
It is clear that this research assumes a great deal and that the data has been interpreted through ‘evolutionary glasses’. To assess the data objectively, what is required is to remove the evolution glasses and allow the data to speak for itself. When this is done, what the data show are major built-in, skeletal-design differences between apes and humans which could best be described as a functional chasm between them. No evidence of evolution has been found. What was found was evidence of intelligent design and an unbridgeable gap between the human and the ape.
[1] Ellis, Denielle. Research illuminates the genetic basis of human skeletal proportions. Life Science News; https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230720/Research-illuminates-the-genetic-basis-of-human-skeletal-proportions.aspx, 20 July 2023. Bold added.
[2] Lewis, Dyani. Short arms and lanky legs: the genetic basis of walking on two legs
Genome-wide map reveals regions associated with skeletal changes that enabled humans to walk upright. Nature; https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02345-7, 20 July 2023.
[3] Raichlen, David A., and Herman Pontzer. Energetic and endurance constraints on great ape quadrupedalism and the benefits of hominin bipedalism. Evolutionary Anthropology 30(4):253-261, 2021.
[4] Rodman, Peter, and Henry M. McHenry. Bioenergetics and the origin of hominid bipedalism. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 52(1):103-106, 1980.
[5] Science Desk. Scientists discover gene that let humans walk upright. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/scientists-discover-gene-humans-walk-upright-8852857/, 21 July 2023.
[6] Kun et al., 2023; emphasis added.
[7] Bergman, Jerry, et al. Apes as Ancestors: Examining the Claims About Human Evolution. Bartlett Publishing, Tulsa, OK.
[8] Reiner Protsch von Zieten andgischer Anzeiger. Band 61, S. 7–17, 2003.
[9] Science News. Little Foot takes a bow. South Africa’s oldest, and the world’s most complete Australopithecus skeleton ever found, introduced to the world. Science Daily; https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171206100104.htm, 6 December 2017.
Dr. Jerry Bergman has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology, geology, and microbiology for over 40 years at several colleges and universities including Bowling Green State University, Medical College of Ohio where he was a research associate in experimental pathology, and The University of Toledo. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. He has over 1,300 publications in 12 languages and 40 books and monographs. His books and textbooks that include chapters that he authored are in over 1,800 college libraries in 27 countries. So far over 80,000 copies of the 60 books and monographs that he has authored or co-authored are in print. For more articles by Dr Bergman, see his Author Profile.