Abstract:
Reconstructing early hominin locomotion is a central task for understanding the origin of the human lineage because locomotion provides access to key evolutionary resources including food, water, shelter, and potential mates. This talk will focus on three-dimensional geometric morphometric (i.e., the statistical analysis of shape) approaches to investigating primate foot functional morphology. Such approaches include high-dimensional sliding semilandmark, coherent point drift, and weighted spherical harmonics analyses to investigate the external shape and internal structure of the primate foot, providing the necessary context to reconstruct aspects of early hominin locomotor repertoires.
