Man: The Fallen Ape - Part 1 - The Human Erectus

The skulls, seen from behind, of (a) a chimpanzee, (b) one of the Australopithecinae, (c) Homo erectus, and (d) Homo sapiens. "Erect posture was . . . forced on [man] by the extra weight approximately 800 grams - of the new brain."

Another great mystery in the history of mankind is why and how humans became bipedal creatures, why and how Homo became erectus. Some writers explain this change as the need to free the hands to use tools and weapons. But I believe that man did not begin to use weapons until long after he had been standing upright, and that, for a long time in his new posture, man continued to be only a food-gatherer. Tools, such as they were at the beginning of man's bipedalism, were used with equal dexterity by apes, who did not become bipedal. Thus, handling tools and weapons is not enough of a reason for man to continue walking on two feet and standing upright, tiring things in themselves, at a time when he had no special need to use his hands.

Desmond Morris explains the upright posture by stressing that "with strong pressure on them to increase their prey-killing prowess, they [humans] became more upright, fast, better runners."

But, if man had had "strong pressure" on him to increase his prowess in hunting, why, for all those millions of years, did he not try to improve his running on four legs in order to compete with the speedy four-legged predators? If the pressure had been so strong, he could have done it by imitation instead of choosing the clumsy and low bipedal locomotion. Before athletic games were invented in Greece, and above all in modern sport, man never achieved any speed compared with other predators, particulary those he had to face in the savannah.

Robert Ardrey explains that "we learnt to stand erect in the first place as a necessity for the hunting life."

If one accepted Morris's and Ardrey's explanations of the reasons for the upright posture, the human female would still be on all fours.

Some writers explain that man became upright because from this new posture he could spot his prey more easily. My answer to this is that it is more in keeping with natural logic that a highly vulnerable creature like man, with no offensive or defensive weapons, and lacking the speed of other animals, would have been much more worried about being seen by his predators than spotting his prey.

The instinct of hiding, developing all manner of camouflage, is a part of animal nature. When man started thinking he created man-made camouflage by imitating animals.

Improvisation, which is in the nature of an opportunist, is more difficult in the precarious bipedal position than on all fours.

What happened then? To understand what I am proposing, one must take into consideration the fact that the upright posture coincided with the accelerated increase in the volume, therefore the weight, of the developing human brain. The phases of gradual bipedalism followed the stages of the gradual increase in the size of the brain. And so it would seem that the human erect posture was due to the extra weight in the head. Erect posture was not a choice of man but was forced on him. It was forced on him by the extra weight - approximately 800 grams - of the new brain.

It may seem unbelievable that this small weight could have produced such consequences. It would probably have been irrelevant had it been carried on four legs for a short time; but for a long time, coupled with the exhaustion of living in the savannah, this small weight felt enormous.

My proposition may be understood better from the following examples. An Italian bicycling champion told me that after eight hours of pedaling, hunched over the low handlebars, he felt as if the medal of the Madonna, which hung round his neck on a fine chain, weighed a ton.

Any boxer at the end of the fight will tell you what a relief it is to take off his heavy gloves.

A pregnant woman always stands with her back arched, and wears flat shoes in order to keep the center of gravity in the right place.

Under the pressure of the increased weight of their brain, humans had to either stand upright, balancing the head on the spinal cord, or to develop their shoulder muscles at least two and a half times to stop the head from dropping down. This latter solution would not have been in the nature of opportunists. It would have made them awkward, heavier and slower, which would have been a major handicap in a life of improvisation, a life which needed quick reactions and elastic movements.

Darwin was very close to agreeing with this explanation of the erect posture. "The gradually increasing weight of the brain and skull in man must have influenced the development of the supporting spinal column, more especially whilst he was becoming erect," he wrote in The Descent of Man. "In young persons whose heads have become fixed, either sideways or backwards, owing to disease, one of the two eyes has changed its position and the shape of the skull has been altered apparently by the pressure of the brain, in a new direction," he adds.

Scientists say that when a baby stops crawling and begins trying to walk on two feet, he is urged on by an instinct for bipedalism. Instincts, like gods, are used as easy solutions to cover up ignorance of the real causes.

If bipedalism was an instinct or an innate posture, then the human infant would not take so long to walk on two legs. In the animal world the infant assumes the natural posture of its species a few days after its birth, and in some cases, after only a few hours. If bipedalism were an innate position for man, then humans would not easily get tired while standing. Any other animals relax, rest, and even sleep in their natural standing-up position. We can deduce that the upright posture was forced on humans from the fact that it has brought with it extra fatigue, discomfort and new illnesses, such as curvature of the spine, kidney troubles, back pains, and varicose veins.

PART 1

Homo Erectus