(BBC) Hands are made for punching

[JusticeZero]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20790294

Fighting may have shaped evolution of human hand

Fighting may have shaped the evolution of the human hand, according to a new study by a US team.

The University of Utah researchers used instruments to measure the forces and acceleration when martial artists hit a punch bag.

They found that the structure of the fist provides support that increases the ability of the knuckles to transmit "punching" force...

[JonWal]

Interesting read

[Harkon72]

Very interesting, I found this article a good read too...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19290320

[Zaine]

"I think there is a lot of resistance, maybe more so among academics than people in general - resistance to the idea that, at some level humans are by nature aggressive animals. I actually think that attitude, and the people who have tried to make the case that we don't have a nature - those people have not served us well.

I find this particular paragraph fascinating.

[Wastelander]

I am not an evolutionary biologist, but I do not agree with the idea that fist-fighting was so prevalent in our ancestral history that we had to evolve hands specifically for that purpose. In my mind, it is more likely that our ancestors fought more like chimps do, as the video linked in that article shows, which would lead to palms suited for impact rather than fists, which are complex and built of small bones and a linkage of joints that makes it a naturally poor tool for striking unless properly conditioned. I think that the hand is much more suited to fine motor skills that allow us to use more complex tools than other primates are able to use. I suppose that fighting could, perhaps, have played some part in making the fist a slightly stronger tool for fighting, but I doubt that was the primary influence on its development.

I brought it up to my brother, who is going to school to be a biology teacher, as well as to a martial artist I know who is a university scientist, and neither of them give this "study" any credibility. My brother thinks it is an interesting "what if?" story, but has no real evidence to support it, and the scientist just thinks it is a load of manure, basically

[Zaine]

I find that Scientist are wary of everything they don't say. It was Experimental Biology so they could still be doing research.

[bushido_man96]

Perhaps the fist developed as it did as humans began punching straight, and not slapping with arced strikes using the palms.

[DWx]

Interesting find.

Rather than read the BBC interpretation, the full article is online anyway: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/2/236.full.pdf+html

I am not an evolutionary biologist, but I do not agree with the idea that fist-fighting was so prevalent in our ancestral history that we had to evolve hands specifically for that purpose. In my mind, it is more likely that our ancestors fought more like chimps do, as the video linked in that article shows, which would lead to palms suited for impact rather than fists, which are complex and built of small bones and a linkage of joints that makes it a naturally poor tool for striking unless properly conditioned. I think that the hand is much more suited to fine motor skills that allow us to use more complex tools than other primates are able to use. I suppose that fighting could, perhaps, have played some part in making the fist a slightly stronger tool for fighting, but I doubt that was the primary influence on its development.

I brought it up to my brother, who is going to school to be a biology teacher, as well as to a martial artist I know who is a university scientist, and neither of them give this "study" any credibility. My brother thinks it is an interesting "what if?" story, but has no real evidence to support it, and the scientist just thinks it is a load of manure, basically

It's not a case of "we had to evolve hands specifically for that purpose" but more that those individuals who did have that trait were perceived to be stronger and more desirable mates by females so that trait was passed along as they would be chosen to reproduce.

A third possibility is that the proportions of the human hand are the result of sexual selection for improved striking performance during hand-to-hand combat by males...

This kind of thing is reflected in today's animal kingdom where males will fight to establish dominance and the victor gets the female and a buttressed fist was probably better in a fight than the open hand.

The study also talks of sexual dimorphism in the size of the fist and how it would fit with this theory:

Importantly, among mammals, sexual dimorphism is often greatest in those characters that enhance a make's capacity to dominate other males.

At any rate I would agree with the study in that the clenched fist is somewhat natural now for us to use, martial artist or not:

The importance of a clenched fist to human aggression is reflected in the role that it plays in threat displays. Threat displays provide important clues to the weapons used in fighting... Although descriptions of how humans fight with their arms are rare in the literature, striking with fists appears to be universal among Europeans, it is commonly employed in the Asian fighting styles of Karate and Kung Fu..., it is used in fighting competitions by at least one group of Native Americans and it is the dominant striking mode used in modern mixed martial arts competitions. Granted, it is difficult to assert that the fist is our instinctually preferred weapon, but it has been noted that infants often use a "closed hand" to express anxiety and distress.

[MasterPain]

I think the hand was made for pointed sticks. It's hard for a male to reproduce when he's starved to death after trying to hunt sabre toothed rabbits with his fists.

[Zaine]

I think the hand was made for pointed sticks. It's hard for a male to reproduce when he's starved to death after trying to hunt sabre toothed rabbits with his fists.

But their so much tastier when caught by hand!

It seems likely that we did develop a closed fist because of the tools that we developed such as weapons. However, I think that it is universal to have fists as a last resort. How we got to that would be interesting to find. Maybe we were trying to imitate a rock? Who knows?