A key anatomical feature of the modern human hand is the third metacarpal, a bone in the palm that connects the middle finger to the wrist."There's a little projection of bone in the third metacarpal known as a "styloid process" that we need for tools," said study lead author Carol Ward, an anatomist and paleoanthropologist at the University of Missouri."This tiny bit of bone in the palm of the hand helps the metacarpal lock into the wrist, helping the thumb and fingers apply greater amounts of pressure to the wrist and palm. It's part of a whole complex of features that allows us the dexterity and strength to make and use complex tools." [In Images: The Oddities of Human Anatomy]Mr. Erectus was our previous, and long lived ancestor and they ushered in the stone age. They walked on two legs, they were tall and had larger brain capacity.
Before Mr. Erectus, there must be the hominoid stick species, an almost two legged creature that mastered the stick and the stick bashing. Not yet ready for the practiced, parabolic arc which requires complete body coordination.
After Mr.Erectus came us, and we added the ice line gene, the ability to pretend a four month winter is one long rock throw, intelligent stockpiling of rocks, essentially.
Stick bashing to rock throwing to ice lining.
What's the origin of the phrase 'A stone's throw'?
How about that, a stones throw is a unit of measure. For homo erectus it defined a center of radius, the perimeter was the border, the first definition of property. The clan hearths would be separated by the standard throw of a rock. So there is a great advantage to ice dwellers who can now map out locations of stockpiles, and find neighbors in the snow. It is a kind of holograph experience in space, an adapted brain can keep maps by holding sequences of 'rock throws'. He re-uses the rock throwing neural column as an abstract algebra. Like a kid counting lines on the sidewalk, our ancestor was 'fake throwing' a rock and estimating a destination by dead reckoning sequences.
One can imaging the originally, when wandering in the snow, we would actually throw the rock, watch where it landed, and know the map from that reference. The key is an inhibitory process that developed, just do the throw but suppress the muscle movements, except the eyes. After practice, the eyes can map from point to point. That is dead reckoning, the ice age gene.
But dead reckoning leads to mud slate maps, each stroke in the mud being a stones throw. Just collapse the mud slat map into a x axis and one has inventory by distance, a distribution and an account. The more stones throw, the rarer the transaction; fractional reserve stockpiling becomes available, as well as written language.
The dead reckoning gene
Good name for it, it happened over the last glacial cycle, 100,000 years. The ice melted and there was dead reckoning man, alive and well in the snows. A better name, hologram human, the ability to re-use the muscle system as a semi-repeatable, and countable sequence.
One can imaging the originally, when wandering in the snow, we would actually throw the rock, watch where it landed, and know the map from that reference. The key is an inhibitory process that developed, just do the throw but suppress the muscle movements, except the eyes. After practice, the eyes can map from point to point. That is dead reckoning, the ice age gene.
But dead reckoning leads to mud slate maps, each stroke in the mud being a stones throw. Just collapse the mud slat map into a x axis and one has inventory by distance, a distribution and an account. The more stones throw, the rarer the transaction; fractional reserve stockpiling becomes available, as well as written language.
The dead reckoning gene
Good name for it, it happened over the last glacial cycle, 100,000 years. The ice melted and there was dead reckoning man, alive and well in the snows. A better name, hologram human, the ability to re-use the muscle system as a semi-repeatable, and countable sequence.
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