Your Face was made to be Thumped in

Rucking_Fetard

Human faces evolved to be punched by human fists, researchers say

According to researchers at the University of Utah, the bones of the human face have evolved to be more robust for protection against repeated impacts by small objects like the human fist, which they claim similarly evolved to protect the hand’s delicate musculoskeletal system when punching.


David Carrier, co-author of “Protective buttressing of the hominin face,” said in a statement that, “f indeed the evolution of our hand proportions were associated with selection for fighting behavior you might expect the primary target, the face, to have undergone evolution to better protect it from injury when punched.”



“When modern humans fight hand-to-hand the face is usually the primary target,” he continued. “What we found was that the bones that suffer the highest rates of fracture in fights are the same parts of the skull that exhibited the greatest increase in robusticity during the evolution of basal hominins.”

The implications of the pair’s conclusions reach outside debates about human evolution. “The debate over whether or not there is a dark side to human nature goes back to the French philosopher Rousseau who argued that before civilization humans were noble savages; that civilization actually corrupted humans and made us more violent,” Carrier said.



His work with Morgan would indicate otherwise. “What our research has been showing is that many of the anatomical characters of great apes and our ancestors, the early hominins — such as bipedal posture, the proportions of our hands and the shape of our faces — do, in fact, improve fighting performance,” he said.



He and Morgan were careful to stress that this does mean that humans are “naturally” or “inherently” violent, only that they evolved in an environment in which a particular mode of violence manifested itself.

Galvasean

The paper is not standing up very well to peer review / scrutiny it would seem:
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/10/our-skulls-didnt-evolve-to-be-punched/#.U5d2UHkR_0Q.twitter

Wibbs

I'd agree with the rebuttals. It's a grand oul theory, but for me it makes little sense and there are too many holes in the argument. For a start if we were batin the head off each other as a part of male behaviour to the degree where it shaped male skulls you would also expect to see adaptations in the hands for such a purpose. Without padding or bracing fingers get broken all too easily, which would impact survival in such an environment. Plus from early on we were tool users and a rock or stick is a lot better of a weapon than a fist. Even chimps know this and will grab a branch or other objects to throw at a rival. Then look at the different hominids as well as tool use. You might expect to see the face becoming less robust as tool use increased and fisticuffs decreased, yet Neandertals are about the most robust of all and they're just "before" we came along. In their case you could argue blunt force protection influenced their bodies and skulls. Most show evidence of such injuries, but it seems that was down to close in hunting techniques.

Rubecula

Totally agree, after all boxing gloves were invented to protect the hands, surely that would not have been needed if we were punching each others lights out.

Besides since the invention of boxing gloves, more fist fighters have died than in the previous 150 years of bare knuckle fighting, purely because the head was not punched due to damage to unprotected hands.

(Hope that makes sense)

Adam Khor

Wibbs wrote: »

yet Neandertals are about the most robust of all and they're just "before" we came along. In their case you could argue blunt force protection influenced their bodies and skulls. Most show evidence of such injuries, but it seems that was down to close in hunting techniques.

Here's a question- if a fully grown modern day man in top condition punched a Neanderthal in the face, what would the effect be? :pac:

Wibbs

The modern day bloke discovering the emergency medical response time in the area? That and finding out the Neandertal for "ah bless", or "I am Godzilla, you are Japan".

Adam Khor

Of course, I was expecting that sort of answer

Rubecula

And after the Neanderthal had ripped his arms off and beat him over the head with the soggy ends, her husband might have a go.

Capt'n Midnight

You wouldn't try to punch a baboon in the face, not with a bite like that.

I still like the idea that we are just pre-mature babies, born before we could develop hair and elongated muzzles n' stuff.


Also why don't our skulls show sexual differences like orangoutangs ?



And we've been using fire for a million years, so presumably we've been using sticks and stones too.

Or is karate "empty hand" a little older than previously thought ?

Adam Khor

I would imagine we've been punching each other since the moment we could close our hands into a solid fist...

Chimps and other apes can´t, but they will still beat you to a pulp with their open/semi-closed hands

the_syco

When I saw the article, I didn't think that ones face evolved to be thumped in, rather I thought those with a weak face just died, and the only ones left were the thick skulled ones?

Capt'n Midnight

Adam Khor wrote: »

Chimps and other apes can´t, but they will still beat you to a pulp with their open/semi-closed hands

*throws stone*

*runs away*