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Table 2 Fossil specimens included in the present study. See main text for references to support putative locomotor strategy assignments

From: 3D shape analyses of extant primate and fossil hominin vertebrae support the ancestral shape hypothesis for intervertebral disc herniation

Specimen

Taxon

Site

Estimated age

Putative locomotor strategy

Preservation

Curation Location

Kebara 2 penultimate thoracic

Homo neanderthalensis

Kebara, Israel

60 Ka

Obligate biped

Complete

Tel Aviv University, Israel

Kebara 2 final thoracic

Homo neanderthalensis

Kebara, Israel

60 Ka

Obligate biped

Complete

Tel Aviv University, Israel

Kebara 2 first lumbar

Homo neanderthalensis

Kebara,

Israel

60 Ka

Obligate biped

Complete

Tel Aviv University, Israel

MH 1 first lumbar

Australopithecus sediba

Malapa, South Africa

1.9 Ma

Facultative biped

Complete but transverse processes are asymmetric (see text for details of how we dealt with this)

Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Shanidar 3 penultimate thoracic

Homo neanderthalensis

Shanidar, Iraq

35–65 Ka

Obligate biped

Complete

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA

Shanidar 3 final thoracic

Homo neanderthalensis

Shanidar, Iraq

35–65 Ka

Obligate biped

Complete

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA

Shanidar 3 first lumbar

Homo neanderthalensis

Shanidar,Iraq

35–65 Ka

Obligate biped

Nearly complete but some elements reconstructed

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA

SK 853 final thoracic

Paranthropus robustus

Swartkrans, South Africa

1.8 Ma

Facultative biped

Mostly complete but missing tip of right transverse process and small portion of right superior zygapophyseal facet

Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa

SK 3981a final thoracic

Paranthropus robustus

Swartkrans, South Africa

1.8 Ma

Facultative biped

Complete with minor damage to body

Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa

Sts 14 penultimate thoracic

Australopithecus africanus

Sterkfontein, South Africa

2.5 Ma

Facultative biped

Complete with minor damage to body

Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa

Sts 14 final thoracic

Australopithecus africanus

Sterkfontein, South Africa

2.5 Ma

Facultative biped

Complete

Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa

Sts 14 first lumbar

Australopithecus africanus

Sterkfontein, South Africa

2.5 Ma

Facultative biped

Minor damage to body and undeveloped left transverse process (see text for details of how we dealt with this)

Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa

UW 101–1733 penultimate thoracic

Homo naledi

Rising Star, South Africa

236–335 Ka

Facultative biped

Nearly complete; missing distal ends of spinous and transverse processes

Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa