| Inferring soft tissue anatomy and reconstructing extinct behaviors from muscle attachment sites (entheses) on dry bones is
a common practice among paleontologists. Paleolithic stone tool behaviors are assessed using this method on fossil
hominin hand bones. Little is known, however, about how or even whether the morphologies of the entheses of muscles are
affected by their morphology or activity regimes, particularly in the hand. The size and shape of the opponens entheses of
modern humans were evaluated using opponens muscles from a sample of modern humans. In terms of entheseal
morphology and behaviorally-influenced muscle architecture, we found no consistent relationship. Fossil hominins cannot
be inferred to have exhibited patterns of behavior, such as stone tool making, based on these enthesesddd |
