Functional morphology of the hominin knee: locomotor signals in the trabecular structure of the distal femur and proximal tibia in extant and extinct hominoids

The first aim of this thesis is to explore relationship between the trabecular bone structure of the distal femur in extant primates and their locomotor behaviors, both across species and within individual groups. The second aim is to investigate potential connections between the trabecular bone architecture of the proximal tibia in these primates. Furthermore, the third aim is to infer locomotor activities of certain extinct hominins based on their trabecular bone patterns. To achieve this, we analysed the trabecular structure of the distal femur in

Australopithecus sediba, Australopithecus africanus, and Homo neanderthalensis as well as both the distal femur and proximal tibia in Homo floresiensis.