see over visual barriers as a form of defense against predators or to hunt for their next meal, or to simply stay cool. Charles Darwin wrote that “Man could not have attained his present dominant position in the world without the use of his hands, which are so admirably adapted to the act of obedience of his will”, (Darwin, 1871: 52). Darwin would specifically write about human origins and bipedalism in his Decsent of man, and selection in relation to sex. “If it be an advantage to man to stand firmly on his feet to have his arms free...then I see no reason why it should not have been advantageous to …show more content…
At his time without fossil records and genes, his theory made sense, but today we know that tool making came later in evolution. Gordon Hewes (1961), “carrying meat over considerable distances”, (Hewes 1961:689). He believed this to be the driving force for bipedalism. The “freeing of hands” or “carrying hypothesis” has always been a much debated factor in bipedalism. C. Owen Lovejoy (1981), would take it a step further and introduce it as “male provisioning”, Lovejoy theorized that the evolution of upright walking was based on monogomy. He believed that bipedalism developed in the African savannah and with the East African region drying up fruit trees and sources of food were growing further apart. Meaning hominids would have to travel further to obtain food leaving a mother caring for her young at a disadvantage. This in Lovejoy's theory was the beginning of monogomous relations, where men would know their women were not involved with other men. The man would provision for his women and carry food since his hands were free due to the fact he was walking bipedally. This theory has been heavily criticized due to the idea that bipedalism occurred