When did people come from the tree to the ground?

From the fossil foot bones found, scientists have determined the time when our ancestors left the tree to step down to the ground with a vertical gait, which was about 3.2 million years ago.

These bones belong to Australopithecus afarensis, the creature known from the discovery of "Lucy" that part of the skeleton was dug up in Ethiopia in 1974. The fossils show that Lucy's feet have fixed shape. arch, shows, people can walk and even run a long distance. The Daily Mail newspaper quoted Dr. Carol Ward, who led the research group, saying that the development of curved feet is a fundamental change to the human body structure. The big toe no longer has the function to hold but is adapted to walk on the ground.

Lucy has a smaller brain but a stronger jaw than the modern one, Lucy lived about 2.9 to 3.7 million years ago and according to the study it was possible to walk on two feet. However, scientists aren't sure if Lucy spends most of her time walking or still climbing trees like monkeys.

Newly discovered bones belong to a complete foot. It is one of the long bones that connects the toes to a foot. The bone structure shows that it is strong enough for feet to walk and flexible enough to absorb vibrations. With these feet, Australopithecus afarensis walks out of the trees, into fields to find new foods when needed. And with a powerful jaw, Australopithecus afarensis can eat a variety of foods such as fruits, nuts, and roots.

The structure of Australopithecus afarensis is very different from the same species that once lived, such as Ardipithecus ramidus moving on all fours. According to Dr. Carol Ward, right now a modern person, if the flat foot structure does not have an arch, there will certainly be many problems for their entire bones.

Prior to this discovery, scientists only knew that humans could walk on two feet for about 1.8 million years, much less than Australopithecus afarensis.