Exploring morphological shape variation in modern human tali

Abstract

<p>Since humans are obligate bipeds, the foot represents the only structure that directly interfaces with the ground during locomotion, and for this reason it is highly specialized. Particularly, the human talus occupies a pivotal position between the lower limb and foot, as 1) it sustains the weight of the body while distributing the load anteriorly (i.e., to the navicular) and inferiorly (i.e., to the calcaneus), and 2) it allows plantar and dorsal flexion of the foot¹. Recent contributions have employed digital methods to investigate shape variation in hominoid tali^2,3,4. However, little of this work has assessed talar morphology within modern humans. Here we apply a (semi) landmark based method to assess talar morphological differences between groups of modern humans living in different terrain.</p>