From Newsgroup: sci.anthropology.paleo


https://phys.org/news/2025-12-evidence-upright-million-year-sahelanthropus.html

In recent decades, scientists have debated whether
a seven-million-year-old fossil was bipedalrCoa trait
that would make it the oldest human ancestor. A new
analysis by a team of anthropologists offers powerful
evidence that Sahelanthropus tchadensisrCoa species
discovered in the early 2000srCowas indeed bipedal by
uncovering a feature found only in bipedal hominins.

Using 3D technology and other methods, the team
identified Sahelanthropus's femoral tubercle, which
is the point of attachment for the largest and most
powerful ligament in the human bodyrCothe iliofemoral
ligamentrCoand vital for walking upright. The analysis
also confirmed the presence of other traits in
Sahelanthropus that are linked to bipedalism.

"Sahelanthropus tchadensis was essentially a bipedal
ape that possessed a chimpanzee-sized brain and
likely spent a significant portion of its time in
trees, foraging and seeking safety," says Scott
Williams, an associate professor in New York
University's Department of Anthropology who led the
research.

"Despite its superficial appearance, Sahelanthropus
was adapted to using bipedal posture and movement on
the ground."
...


https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv0130
Earliest evidence of hominin bipedalism in
Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Abstract
Bipedalism is a key adaptation that differentiates
hominins (humans and our extinct relatives) from
living and fossil apes. The earliest putative
hominin, Sahelanthropus tchadensis (~7 million
years old), was originally represented by a
cranium, the reconstruction of which suggested to
its discoverers that Sahelanthropus carried its
head in a manner similar to known bipedal hominins.
Recently, two partial ulnae and a femur shaft were
announced as evidence in support of the contention
that Sahelanthropus was an early biped, but those
interpretations have been challenged. Here, while
we find that both limb bones are most similar in
size and geometric morphometric shape to
chimpanzees (genus Pan), we demonstrate that their
relative proportion is more hominin-like.
Furthermore, we confirm two features linked to
hominin-like hip and knee function and identify a
femoral tubercle, a feature only found in bipedal
hominins. Our results suggest that Sahelanthropus
was an early biped that evolved from a Pan-like
Miocene ape ancestor.



"Sahelanthropus may represent an early form of
habitual, but not obligate, bipedalism."

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