Experiments and Variations in Bipedalism

О курсе

This course will help you learn how fossils give us an insight into how the early members of our lineage walked bipedally. The four million years old bone of Australopithecus anamensis is the oldest undisputed evidence for bipedalism in our lineage. Similarly, Lucy’s, who was Australopithecus afarensis, fossil also helped scientists discover a lot about how bipedalism evolved over time. You will also explore bipedal variations in humans. From its earliest version to its modern form—how humans learned to walk, is an interesting story. Similarly how a human being learns to walk, from a toddler’s first footstep to an adult human being’s walk and its variations would also be discussed in this course. You will also understand that while bipedalism has its advantages, it has its adverse effects on humans too from a musculoskeletal point of view. Every module of this course has been created with the intention of a “hands-on” learner experience, where you can play around with and learn from 3D renditions of different human and animal fossils. Through these exercises, you will read the shapes found in bones in order to analyze and reconstruct how a species moved.

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Jeremy DeSilva

Chair and Professor of Anthropology