What moves us? How mobility and movement are at the center of human evolution

Abstract

Movement is central to the survival of all free-living organisms. Consequently, movement and what anthropologists often refer to as mobility, which is the sum of small-scale movements tracked across larger geographic and temporal scales, are key targets of selection. Movement and mobility also underpin many of the key features that make us human and that allowed our lineage to adapt to changing environments across the globe. The most obvious example is the evolution of humans' singular mode of locomotion. Bipedalism is arguably the most important derived anatomical trait of the hominin lineage. The mechanisms and circumstances that gave rise to this novel mode of movement remain subjects of intense research.

Keywords: foraging; locomotion; mobility; movement ecology; territory.