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By Root 1274 0

features can be displayed as a point in a three-dimensional space. Four features would require a four-dimensional space, and so on. The relationships between bones or sets of bones can thus be examined. Points clustered together represent bones that are morphologically similar. Figure 11.14 shows the morphological relationships of the ankle bones of modern humans, African apes, orangutans, and Australopithecus. As can be seen, the point representing the talus of Australopithecus lies in its own domain, distant from modern humans and African apes, and close to orangutans. Oxnard found the same to be true of other parts of the australopithecine anatomy.

According to modern theory, the African apes, particularly the chimpanzees, are the closest relatives of modern humans. Scientists hypothesize that the hominids split from the ancestors of modern chimpanzees several million years ago. Since, according to this view, modern humans and chimpanzees share a common (though as yet undiscovered) ancestor, then Australopithecus, as a hominid predecessor of modern humans, should be morphologically intermediate between humans and chimpanzees. Oxnard’s finding that the morphology of the australopithecines is uniquely different from that of modern humans and chimpanzees calls into question their supposed evolutionary relationship.

Figure 11.14. This display (after Oxnard 1975a, p. 82) depicts the results of a multivariate statistical analysis of the talus (ankle bone) in various hominids and apes. The talus of Australopithecus and that of Homo habilis (considered by Oxnard to be an australopithecine) are morphologically distant from those of modern humans and African apes. Given the view that humans and African apes such as the chimpanzee share a common ancestor, one would expect the australopithecine talus to occupy an intermediate position. Instead, it occupies a unique position, close to that of the orangutan. The same is true of other australopithecine bones. To Oxnard, this raised doubts about the status of Australopithecus as a human ancestor.

That the anatomy of Australopithecus, although unique, resembles that of Pongo (the orangutans) is particularly troubling.Accepting this, evolutionists would have to say that the hominids developed an orangutanlike functional morphology in the australopithecine stage (independently, however, from the orangutans) and then veered back toward the modern human condition. Of course, given the flexibility of evolutionary theorizing, anything is possible. But the view of Australopithecus emerging from the studies of Oxnard and Zuckerman introduces vexing complications.

Considering the anatomical uniqueness of the australopithecines, Oxnard (1975b, p. 394) said: “If these estimates are true, then the possibility that any of the australopithecines is a direct part of human ancestry recedes.” Groves(1989,p.307),

After reviewing studies by Oxnard and others, agreed that “the locomotor system of Australopithecus africanus was unique— not simply an intermediate stage between us and apes.” He found the same to be true of other species of Australopithecus. This fact, along with other aspects of the hominid fossil record, caused him to suggest that “non-Darwinian” principles were required to explain an evolutionary progression from Australopithecus to modern human beings (Groves 1989, p. 316).

11.8.6 Oxnard on the Antiquity of Homo

Like Louis and Richard Leakey, Oxnard believed that the Homo line was far more ancient than the standard evolutionary scenario allows. In this connection, Oxnard called attention to some of the fossils we have previously discussed, such as the humanlike ER 813 talus, over 1.5 million years old (Section 11.6.4). “Description and examination using multivariate methods [Wood 1974a] confirms that it is indeed similar to modern man and unlike the australopithecine specimens,” said Oxnard (1975b, p. 394). He also mentioned the Kanapoi humerus, perhaps

4 or more million years old. Citing research by B. Patterson and W. W. Howells (1967), Oxnard (1975b, p. 394) said the Kanapoi