Proximal femoral diaphyseal cross-sectional geometry in Orrorin tugenensis

Functional adaptations in femora attributed to Orrorin tugenensis provide a unique opportunity to examine locomotor behavior very early in the hominin lineage. This study examines relative cortical thickness, cortical area (CA) relative to the polar moment of area (J), and J relative to femoral head superoinferior diameter (FHD) in the proximal femur of O. tugenensis (BAR 1002’00 and BAR 1003’00), and compares patterns in this early hominin with those in a sample of modern humans (N = 31), Plio-Pleistocene fossil hominins (N = 8), Pan troglodytes troglodytes (N = 13), and Pan paniscus (N = 3). Relative cortical thickness and CA relative to J in the proximal femur of O. tugenensis are comparable to patterns generally found in other fossil hominins. Proximal femoral diaphyseal J relative to FHD in BAR 1002’00 is similar to patterns found in fossil hominins typically attributed to a non-Homo genus (i.e. SK 82, SK 97, and KNM-ER 738). Cross-sectional geometric patterns in the proximal femur of Orrorin are not unlike those generally found in australopithecines and fossil Homo. While the results of this study cannot confirm unequivocally that Orrorin was an obligate biped, a mode of locomotion comparable to that proposed for australopithecines cannot be ruled out.