Conclusions

Summary

In light of the various sources of evidence presented in the preceding chapters, we are left to conclude that the human (in the broadest sense of recent humans and their ancestors) pelvis represents various experiments in evolution. A diversity in pelvic sizes and shapes has marked hominin history, as each population and each species responded to selection pressures in sometimes unique and sometimes convergent ways. These were situated in the distinctive population histories of each of these groups, creating a mosaic of patterns underlain both by responses to evolution and changing patterns of covariance within development. To understand the diversity we observe among fossils, as well as variation within recent humans, we must therefore cultivate a multidisciplinary expertise in biomechanics, kinematics, fossil evidence, developmental biology and evolutionary theory. This book represents an attempt at bringing together these various sources of evidence to better understand the factors, patterns and potential processes that shaped the evolution of the pelvis.