According to a latest study, punching could have helped our ancestors evolve a unique human hand shape that is capable of forming a fist. The experiment relied on cadaver arms strung up with fishing line and guitar tuners. But a number of researchers don’t agree with the study findings.

The ideas of David Carrier regarding the human hand are controversial, but it seems like he is hardly bothered by it. Ironically, his theory that ancient fisticuffs played a part in driving the evolution of the human hand struck in his mind for the first them amid a loud argument.
The University of Utah biologist had published a paper around 10 years back that suggested that sperm whale foreheads evolved as battering rams, which means that male-on-male sexual competition led to a quintessential feature of the species. One of his old friends didn’t buy it, and they started yelling at each other soon.

Carrier told The Post, “At one point, to illustrate the point he tried to communicate, he held his fist up in front of my face and said 'I can hit your face with this, but that’s not why it evolved!'?I thought hey, maybe it did”. Carrier said that he didn’t mention that at the time, because he was already upset.

After then, Carrier has published a number of papers on the subject. All of them have been controversial, and were based on the thesis that the human hand, with its somewhat delicate fingers, long thumbs, and short palms, could have been evolved into its odd shape by fighting between males.

Carrier pointed out that there was no other primate that can form a fist, which was quite a convenient coincidence for them. Furthermore, according to him the human face evolved its shape in such a way that it can better take a hit from a fist.