The face of our ancestors, especially that of the australopithecines , hominids that lived between 4 and 2 million years ago and that would give rise to the genus Homo that encompasses our species, could have evolved to minimize the severity of the injuries they suffered in the males face when faced with each other.
This is argued by a team of scientists from the University of Utah, in the US , in an article published in the journal Biological Reviews . The prevailing hypothesis so far states that the robust complexions of our ancestors arose as a response to the need to chew nuts and other very hard foods.
On the contrary, this new work highlights that it would be an adaptation that appeared more or less at the same time as other features in the musculoskeletal system of australopithecines , especially in the proportions of the hand, which would allow them to shape it into a fist and use it. to hit his rivals, like a mace.
“When modern humans fight hand-to-hand, the face is often their first target,” says biologist David Carrier, who has coordinated the research. “We have discovered that the bones that fracture the most during these confrontations are the same ones that have been strengthened during the evolution of hominids.
They are also the regions of the skull that show the greatest differences between males and females, both in australopithecines and in humans; that is, the face of men is different from that of women because the areas most susceptible to being injured in a fight are larger in them ”. The study promoted by these experts suggests that violence played a fundamental role in human evolution , an idea that many anthropologists defend.
