Scientists put their finger on why early humans slept around

Scarinae

Interesting article in the Irish Times:

EARLY HUMANS were a promiscuous lot, getting into rows and sleeping around. Evidently it all comes down to the length of your fingers, according to fossil research published this morning.

Our distant cousins the Neanderthal were similarly pushy when it came to matters sexual.

The scientists from the universities of Liverpool, Oxford, Southampton and Calgary could not comment on whether this aggression manifested itself in the old “hit them over the head with a club” approach when forming meaningful relationships.

They were, however, able to draw conclusions about ancient human behaviour by measuring finger lengths from fossilised remains. Details of their work are published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Whether our ancient ancestors went for monogamy or polygyny comes down to the length of their fingers, more particularly the index and ring fingers.

The sex hormones are thought to affect finger, toe and reproductive system growth and development while in the womb, stated Dr Emma Nelson, from Liverpool’s School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology.

The ring finger in particular grows longer in the presence of high levels of sex hormones. If there were lots of hormones about, the ring finger would grow longer than the index finger. If hormone levels were lower then the ring and index fingers would be more equal in length.

When the fossil fingers were measured, the early human, Neanderthal and early apes all had longer ring fingers, indicating they had been reared in a hormone-rich social environment.

Having too much male hormone (testosterone) about also means the social exchanges would have been marked by high levels of aggression and promiscuity, the authors write.

The researchers looked at modern primate species and they all had this long ring finger characteristic and with it the tendency to be promiscuous, Dr Nelson said. This gave the researchers confidence to predict the social behaviour of extinct apes and our ancestors on the basis of finger lengths.

Early humans had all the signs of being promiscuous but there were exceptions. One member of the human lineage Australopithecus – dating from three to four million years ago – had near equal ring and index finger lengths, implying it took a monogamous approach to relationships.

Modern human finger lengths imply the same, that we tend towards monogamy. You might find it difficult not to sneak a look at your partner’s hands though, just in case.

My ring finger is longer than my index finger! :eek:

It seems that the press release came out today because the story has also been covered by the Daily Mail and various other outlets. The original paper is called 'Digit ratios predict polygyny in early apes, Ardipithecus, Neanderthals and early Modern Humans but not in Australopithecus'

Yitzhak Rabin

*looks at slightly longer ring finger*

I wonder if I could use this as a way of explaining to my OH why it is only natural that I should also see other women, and to not do so would be unnatural.

Galvasean

My ring finger is quite a bit longer than the index finger.
Quickly, find evidence to suggest that Palaeontology nerds are better in bed!

Please, resist the urge to make a 'bone' joke