Researchers have advanced many hypotheses about the influence of ancient environments on the history of our species, Homo sapiens. However, reliable reconstructions of ancient environments are often unavailable for important fossil sites relevant to these hypotheses. One method of reconstructing ancient environments uses information about modes of locomotion of fossil animals found at sites to test hypotheses about the environment used by these animals. Here, the researcher will develop reconstructions of ancient environments at sites relevant to questions about the influence of environment on the late Miocene Eurasian hominoids, a group of fossil apes potentially most closely related to our first bipedal ancestors. Comparative data on limb bones of fossil three-toed horses, modern Equus, and fossil and living antelopes will be used to describe the morphological correlates of the modes of locomotion employed by these animals. This information will allow the researcher to identify the types of environments represented at fossil sites by identifying the modes of locomotion of animals common at these sites. For instance, sites with many fast-running species adapted to flight from predators across open country would indicate a plains or savanna-like environment. The comparative data collected in this study will consist of traditional metric data, digital photographs, and high resolution X-ray CT scans of fossil and rare museum specimens. Data collection is non-destructive and will create a valuable archive essential to understanding both the locomotion of extinct species, the influence of environment on human relatives, and the long ongoing history of environmental change on our planet.
