Endurance Running Versus Underwater Foraging:
An Anatomical and Palaeoecological Perspective
Stephen Munro 2013
Human Evolution 28:201-212

The dominant theory of human evolution has long been that humans evolved as a result of leaving the forests and becoming better adapted to life in more open, arid habitats (terrestrial model).

This idea pre-dates Darwin's ideas on natural selection, has never been subjected to rigorous scientific scrutiny, and is far less credible than the alternative model proposed here: that human evolution occurred as a result of adaptations to a littoral environment, in which ancestral populations for part of the time
- foraged under water for slow moving, immobile and sessile resources such as shellfish;
- dispersed around coasts;
- and moved up rivers to inland wetlands, including savannas.

It is argued here that the combination of anatomical and palaeoecological data are incompatible with the idea that 'erectine grade' hominids (characterised by relatively heavy cranial and post-cranial bones and a long, low braincase) were long distance runners over arid landscapes, but completely compatible with a waterside dwelling lifestyle, including slow, part-time underwater foraging in relatively shallow waters.