Human Throwing Ability as an Evolutionary Adaptation
New research suggests the innately human ability to throw overhand developed about 1.8 million years ago when men began to hunt and needed to hurl dangerous projectiles at big game, according to a NewYork Times story by James Gorman.. Neil Roach of Georgetown University and colleagues studied throwing motions of college athletes and concluded muscles alone can't explain how hard and fast humans can throw. Their report is in the journal Nature. They concluded the thrower's arm, shoulder and the rest of the body must be storing elastic energy, a capacity they think evolved with the need to hunt. They think specific anatomical changes in the fossil record are tied to the capacity of the shoulder to act like a sling shot. Other scientists think the overhand throw evolved more recently, and that perhaps Neanderthals could have done it. Read the Times story here.