Aborigines could outrun Usain Bolt, claims anthropologist

I think you are right.

Aboriginies couldn't outrun a drunken retard in a 3 wheeled scooter with 2 flat tires.

Anthropologists also support evolution. Of course we can't listen to them.

Am I missing something? How do you go from footprints to speed? The footprints would give you stride length but what about turnover? Maybe they had long strides and slow turnover?

aborigines don't use PED's.

Neither does the Jamaican Jackass. They are called natural vitamins.

umm.. I'd love to see these "photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 meters in the early years of last century."

hey look, I can do it too wrote:

Neither does the Jamaican Jackass. They are called natural vitamins.

I thought they were called "Yams"?

There are some photographs of Tutsi high jumpers in this pdfhttp://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1998/JSH2502/JSH2502d.pdf

specious wrote:

umm.. I'd love to see these "photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 meters in the early years of last century."

Well, we have evolved over thousands of years to not have to run for survival.

But now with professional sports there are some that evolve/breed to be better athletes for money.

Or we may evolve to be like the people in the movie Wall-E.

Actually the exact photo is shown on page 6 of that PDF. It seems that the jumper jumped from higher ground.

Aghast wrote:

There are some photographs of Tutsi high jumpers in this pdf

http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1998/JSH2502/JSH2502d.pdf

specious wrote:

umm.. I'd love to see these "photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 meters in the early years of last century."

And it looks like a forgery

Here's another cool. Obviously this isn't 8 feet, but clearly these guys could jump: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/419DPNZ0XJL._SS500_.jpg

I think this guy is a liar.

First thing this is the velocity estimate is a very rough estimate.

The calculation they use is: Velocity = stride length × 1.670 − 0.645

Secondly, these footprints only covered 11 meters. How can they get an accurate estimate.

Finally in the original report Individual T8 which he claims ran at 37 kph is listed at running at a pedestrian 20 kph.

I looked up the information about the fossilized footprints in this paper:

Pleistocene human footprints from the Willandra Lakes, southeastern Australia

Steve Webb, Matthew L. Cupperb and Richard Robins

Journal of Human Evolution

Volume 50, Issue 4, April 2006, Pages 405-413

From the text of the paper:

The approximate speeds that the people making the trackways were traveling were calculated using a regression equation derived from measurements by (Cavanagh and Kram, 1989) for a sample of twelve male recreational distance runners: velocity = stride length × 1.670 − 0.645. Estimates of velocity derived from this equation should clearly be interpreted cautiously, as stride lengths at a given speed will be modified by variables such as leg length and body mass.

The most impressive track in terms of speed is T8. These footprints are 295 mm long and 100 mm wide; the estimated height of the person who made the tracks is 1.94 ± 0.15 m , close to that of the T1 individual. The tracks indicate that this individual was running the fastest of any person at the site. Pace length increases from 1.8 to 1.9 m over 11 m, indicating acceleration, and speed is estimated at ~20 km/hr. The surface on which this person was running was drying mud that left detailed impressions of foot architecture, with mud oozing between the toes, and slight heal slippage on the surface.

I remember when that thesis first came out. The amount of extrapolation that was going on based on very limited evidence struck me as rather irresponsible for so-called scientists.

Everybody has to earn money for living

*ancestors

Wow There wrote:

I remember when that thesis first came out. The amount of extrapolation that was going on based on very limited evidence ...

welcome to todays science.