A three-dimensional analysis of the geometry and curvature of the proximal tibial articular surface of hominoids

This study uses new three-dimensional imaging techniques to compare the articular curvature of the proximal tibial articular surface of hominoids. It has been hypothesized that the curvature of the anteroposterior contour of the lateral condyle in particular can be used to differentiate humans and apes and reflect locomotor function. This study draws from a large comparative sample of extant hominoids to obtain quantitative curvature data. Three-dimensional models of the proximal tibiae of 26 human, 15 chimpanzee, 15 gorilla, 17 orangutan, 16 gibbon and four Australopithecus fossil casts (AL 129-1b, AL 288-1aq, AL 333x-26, KNM-KP 29285A) were acquired with a Cyberware Model 15 laser digitizer. Curvature analysis was accomplished using a software program developed at Arizona State University’s Partnership for Research In Stereo Modeling (PRISM) lab, which enables the user to extract curvature profiles and compute the difference between analogous curves from different specimens. Results indicate that the curvature of chimpanzee, gorilla and orangutan tibiae is significantly different from the curvature of human tibiae, thus supporting the hypothesized dichotomy between humans and great apes. The non-significant difference between gibbons and all other taxa indicates that gibbons have an intermediate pattern of articular curvature. All four Australopithecus tibia were aligned with the great apes.