[speakspokespok]

Probably not. :)

However, I do notice the pronounced gaps between the toes. My parents generation grew up in Melanesia starting around the 1950’s and many of them have commented on the distinctly different footprint profiles of the local people who never had worn shoes and the western newcomers. If you’ve never worn shoes your toes are far more splayed. I don’t know about lenght of toe.

So really I don’t think your observation is related to their genetic proximity and more to do with bodily adaptation. Perhaps an anthropological podiatrist can comment.

For context, how old are the oldest Egyptian pyramids?

[kcplate]

> If you’ve never worn shoes your toes are far more splayed.

After 7 years of remote work and living in a warm climate where I rarely wear shoes, I can confirm that my own toes have splayed out.

[quantadev]

Yes, I know the splaying is normal for non-shoe wearing folks and not what I'm talking about.

[quantadev]

Women's feet have grown 30% since 1960. Look it up. Doesn't mean the trend will continue, it just means evolution can indeed happen very rapidly under certain circumstances, and for primates to keep long toes for a very long time even after coming down from the trees makes some sense. Probably much more efficient to run thru mud, etc.

[AngryData]

Wouldn't nutrition, diet, and lifestyle changes be a far more likely explination than evolution? What mechanism within the last 80 years could possibly be the driving factor behind evolutionary changes in peoples feet size? Its not like people in the 1930s were dieing due to overly large feet, nor has foot size been a significant factor in mating sucess. People are taller today too, but that isn't because tall people use to die more often or was once considered unattractive, it is mostly because of better nutrition thanks to far more varied and reliable diets.

[AlotOfReading]

I don't know why you're on about this, but our foot shape has been essentially static across the entirety of genus Homo. The difference in time between us and them is an imperceptible rounding error compared to the many millions of years since bipedalism evolved. These people looked like us, wore clothes, spoke languages, etc. If you teleported one of their infants forward and raised it, it would be virtually indistinguishable from a modern person until you did genetic testing.