Human Fists Evolved for Punching, Study Says
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The same scientist who in an earlier study posited the shape of modern man’s face evolved to take a punch, now says humans’ fists evolved to deal ’em out.
University of Utah biology professor and senior study author David Carrier published his latest findings online Wednesday, in the Journal of Experimental Biology. His researchers noted that compared to our primate ancestors, human hands have shorter digits, a boxier palm, and flexible thumbs — ideal for balling hands into perfect punching tools.
Using donated cadaver arms, Carrier and two undergraduate researchers studied the various forces at play when a human hand strikes a target, tracking the brutal efficiency of a fully clenched fist.
What’s key is that the evolved shape of the fist protects the bones of the modern human hand from strike damage, they discovered.
“It may be that these are the proportions that improved manual dexterity while at the same time making it possible for the hand to be used as a club during fighting,” Carrier noted.
“The idea that aggressive behavior played a role in the evolution of the human hand is controversial,” Carrier allowed. “…[W]e suggest that the hand proportions that allow the formation of a fist may tell us something important about our evolutionary history and who we are as a species. If our anatomy is adapted for fighting, we need to be aware we always may be haunted by basic emotions and reflexive behaviors that often don’t make sense — and are very dangerous — in the modern world.”
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