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Elastic energy storage in the shoulder and the evolution of high-speed throwing in Homo

Nature volume 498, pages 483–486 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Some primates, including chimpanzees, throw objects occasionally1,2, but only humans regularly throw projectiles with high speed and accuracy. Darwin noted that the unique throwing abilities of humans, which were made possible when bipedalism emancipated the arms, enabled foragers to hunt effectively using projectiles3. However, there has been little consideration of the evolution of throwing in the years since Darwin made his observations, in part because of a lack of evidence of when, how and why hominins evolved the ability to generate high-speed throws4,5,6,7,8. Here we use experimental studies of humans throwing projectiles to show that our throwing capabilities largely result from several derived anatomical features that enable elastic energy storage and release at the shoulder. These features first appear together approximately 2 million years ago in the species Homo erectus. Taking into consideration archaeological evidence suggesting that hunting activity intensified around this time9, we conclude that selection for throwing as a means to hunt probably had an important role in the evolution of the genus Homo.

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Figure 1: Model of elastic energy storage.
Figure 2: Shoulder rotation and elbow flexion–extension power.
Figure 3: Shoulder-brace restriction condition.
Figure 4: Humeral torsion and throwing performance.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Wyss Institute, L. Stirling, A. Biewener, R. Wrangham, S. Larson, B. Roach, L. Meszoly, A. Lobell and many undergraduate research assistants for their feedback, help and support. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (BCS-0961943 to N.T.R. and D.E.L.), the American School for Prehistoric Research (to N.T.R. and D.E.L.) and the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance (500158/Z/09/Z to M.V.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Neil T. Roach & Daniel E. Lieberman

  2. Department of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington DC, 20052, USA

    Neil T. Roach

  3. National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, Karnataka 560065, India,

    Madhusudhan Venkadesan

  4. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spaulding National Running Center, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael J. Rainbow

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  1. Neil T. Roach
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  2. Madhusudhan Venkadesan
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  4. Daniel E. Lieberman
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Contributions

N.T.R. and D.E.L. designed the study and wrote the paper. N.T.R. collected and analysed the data with help from D.E.L., M.V. and M.J.R. All authors helped to edit the paper.

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Correspondence to Neil T. Roach.

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This file contains Supplementary Notes 1-23, Supplementary Figures 1-8, Supplementary Tables 1-6 and Supplementary References. (PDF 1230 kb)

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Roach, N., Venkadesan, M., Rainbow, M. et al. Elastic energy storage in the shoulder and the evolution of high-speed throwing in Homo . Nature 498, 483–486 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12267

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  1. Peter Gibson

    The baseball throw appears to be just that and is different from bowling in cricket. The throw sends the ball through the air the parallel to the ground like skimming stones on a pond. This would appear not to be a very effective from the point of view of hitting a target (seen the video). It involves twisting the body (for some reason many women do not naturally throw like men). In cricket (tennis e.g. Wimbledon and the crawl in swimming) the arm is held straight above the head and brought down and forwards (as shown by chimp in video). I assume this is a centrifugal force and is augmented by the weight of the body. An anatomical explanation for throwing (in generic sense) verses bowling appears difficult to justify in evolutionary terms.

    Throwing appears to have evolved via brachiating. The arms needed to stretch above the head as in gibbons and orang-utans. These live in the tree canopy and their long arms act as hooks, and the body has a low centre of gravity. In the past the loss of forests due to global warming forced (through completion from other primate) defenceless hominids onto beaches to scavenge. This is the basis of Sir Alister Hardy?s Aquatic Ape theory (Nature-online comment on doi:10.1038/497573a). There was a need to climb vertical cliffs to reach the safety of caves for the night. Climbing vertically is an adaptation of brachiating. This also appears to have lead to an increase in the length and power of the legs to provide upward thrust. This was a pre-adapted to walking (rather than walking preceding long legs). In birds long legs appear to be an adaptation to jumping and wading and a pre-adaption to flying (Science-online comment on doi:10.1126/science.1235463).

    From the safety of caves hominids may have thrown rocks from above for defence and to bring down passing game. This would have been a downward stroke rather than a sideways one. The resulting chipped and therefore sharp rocks (cf. knapped) collected from under the cliffs became the first recycled tools. All technology is serendipitous. With the advent of walking early armed hominids moved onto the savannahs to hunt large herbivores which had taken advantage of the grasslands brought about by loss of forests. Cliff dwelling hominids followed them. The armed hominids, able to throw and walk, became effective hunters. The only running required was to assist in throwing. The pitcher in baseball is static and, as Roach et al appears to say, coils like a spring.

    All sport (baseball and cricket in particular) may be a re-enactment of hunting and tribal competition. They are ball (rock) games and, as one might guess, played on grass. Overlooking ritual areas (stadia and grounds) are recreated cliffs of seating with high rise housing behind. Fanciful as this sounds the psychiatrist Jung, rival of Freud, believed in ancestral memories. This is a theory of instinct formalised by people such as Tinbergen who came after Jung. This is all a very different view to that of Roach et al but just as convincing.

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