II. PALEONTOLOGY :

THE INCIDENCE OF BIPEDALISM IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

        Paleontology is a puzzle; one must assemble enough pieces to obtain a coherent picture of the past. Finding the origins of mankind is a complicated matter to which many have dedicated their professional lives. In this chapter, we will approach this vast field in a very modest way by trying to add a few more pieces to that giant puzzle that we call human evolution.

The concepts of contralateral bipedalism and interacting body structures will provide the underlying foundation for our conclusions. We will focus on the bipedalism of the Australopithecus afarensis and the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, which we believe, can give us important clues about our present state. We intend to reinforce the notion that the bipedalism of modern man is unique. No pre-human ever reached such a high level of sophistication in walking and running, not even the Neanderthal who was, at one time, a contemporary of the emerging Modern Man. It is our opinion that the key factor in the transition of pre-humans to Modern Man has been a switch or adjustment in the type of gait. A dominant contralateral type of gait in Modern Man gradually replaced the dominant ipsilateral type of gait in pre-humans.