Interpreting locomotor biomechanics from the morphology of human footprints

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Interpreting locomotor biomechanics from the morphology of human
footprints
Kevin G. Hatala, Roshna E. Wunderlich, Heather L. Dingwall, Brian G. Richmond
Journal of Human Evolution 90 (2016) 38e48

Fossil hominin footprints offer unique direct windows to the locomotor behaviors of our ancestors. These
data could allow a clearer understanding of the evolution of human locomotion by circumventing issues
associated with indirect interpretations of habitual locomotor patterns from fossil skeletal material.
However, before we can use fossil hominin footprints to understand better the evolution of human
locomotion, we must first develop an understanding of how locomotor biomechanics are preserved in,
and can be inferred from, footprint morphologies.
In this experimental study, 41 habitually barefoot modern humans created footprints under controlled
conditions in which variables related to locomotor biomechanics could be quantified. Measurements of
regional topography (depth) were taken from 3D models of those footprints, and principal components
analysis was used to identify orthogonal axes that described the largest proportions of topographic
variance within the human experimental sample. Linear mixed effects models were used to quantify the
influences of biomechanical variables on the first five principal axes of footprint topographic variation,
thus providing new information on the biomechanical variables most evidently expressed in the
morphology of human footprints. The footprint's overall depth was considered as a confounding variable,
since biomechanics may be linked to the extent to which a substrate deforms. Three of five axes showed
statistically significant relationships with variables related to both locomotor biomechanics and substrate
displacement; one axis was influenced only by biomechanics and another only by the overall depth of
the footprint. Principal axes of footprint morphological variation were significantly related to gait type
(walking or running), kinematics of the hip and ankle joints and the distribution of pressure beneath the
foot. These results provide the first quantitative framework for developing hypotheses regarding the
biomechanical patterns reflected by fossil hominin footprints by demonstrating the statistically signifi-
cant effects of specific kinematic variables on patterns of variation in footprint topography.
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