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http://neurosciencenews.com/evolution-hands-fighting-2917/
"As an alternative, we suggest that the hand proportions that allow the formation of a fist may tell us something important about our evolutionary history and who we are as a species," Carrier adds. "If our anatomy is adapted for fighting, we need to be aware we always may be haunted by basic emotions and reflexive behaviors that often don't make sense – and are very dangerous – in the modern world," says biology Professor David Carrier.
Carrier and his collaborators not only have argued our hands evolved partly for punching but that the faces of human ancestors, the australopiths, evolved to resist punching – and that human faces became more delicate as our violence became less dependent on brute force. The new study sought more experimental evidence for his theory using nine male cadaver arms purchased from the university's body donor program and from a private supply company.
Shoryuken!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday October 26 2015, @03:43PM
Was going to say this, martial arts boils down to the most effective application of simple physics and I think it's fair to say that punching is pretty much a solved problem.
However, I doubt many proto-humans were setting up dojos or studying biomechanics. I mean we're going back to the days before tool-use, aren't we? Surely sticks and stones as weapons were among the first tools. Consider this: If our hands are adapted to punching the way sensei teaches, then why aren't our instincts also adapted to it? In other words, the fact that proper punching has to be taught (and in fact, certain other behaviours have to be UN-taught first, such as tucking one's thumb into the fist) suggests that it isn't what evolution had in mind.
Look at the way other apes fight and consider that in nature, the vast majority of one-on-one animal conflicts within a mammal species (ie two males fighting over a female) are non-lethal. Apply that to our own ancestors and suddenly you can see that Fred and Barney weren't aiming to kill one another with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, they were just inflicting bruises until it was clear who was top dog, then it's a grudging reconciliation and back to business. A social species like ours can't afford to be killing or maiming tribe members over petty disputes. Bear in mind that in primitive times, what we would consider a minor injury (a broken tooth, a cut, a bad concussion) could easily be life-threatening, or prevent someone from contributing to the tribe for a long time.
When you look at conflicts between members of different groups (ie chimp tribes at war) then you can see that it's mostly a lot of shouting and gesticulating unless one group greatly outnumbers the other and actually has an opportunity to catch them. That's the only time it really gets lethal and in that situation, you don't need to be particularly efficient with your fists, ten guys beating on a single victim will finish him off without any special adaptations. If the victim is outnumbered and pinned down then throttling, biting, stomping and kicking become available as well.
Personally I think it's more likely that our ancestors mostly swung their fists in downwards hammer-blows to the head, face and back. Unlikely to be lethal to the recipient (unless you are grasping a rock) but enough to drive somebody away / assert dominance and unlikely to bust up your own hands. Just watch other great apes at work.