BUFFALO \u2014 Dashiell Hammett mentioned Sam Spade\u2019s jutting chin in the opening sentence of his novel, \u201cThe Maltese Falcon.\u201d Spade\u2019s chin was among the facial features Hammett used to describe his fictional detective\u2019s appearance, but starting with that distinctive chin was \u2212 at least from an evolutionary perspective \u2212 an unintentional redundancy, since every chin is distinctive in the sense that humans are the only primates to possess that physical characteristic.<\/p>\n
Chimpanzees, humans\u2019 closest living relatives, do not have a chin. Neither did Neanderthals, Denisovans, or any other extinct human species. Humans, it turns out, have a unique capacity to \u201ctake it on the chin\u201d because we\u2019re uniquely in possession of that physical feature. That exclusive nature makes the chin well suited for identifying Homo sapiens in the fossil record.<\/p>\n
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