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Sandel AA, Negrey JD, Arponen M, Clark IR, Clift JB, Reddy RB, Ivaska KK. The evolution of the adolescent growth spurt: Urinary biomarkers of bone turnover in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Hum Evol 2023; 177:103341. [PMID: 36905703 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
Life history theory addresses how organisms balance development and reproduction. Mammals usually invest considerable energy into growth in infancy, and they do so incrementally less until reaching adult body size, when they shift energy to reproduction. Humans are unusual in having a long adolescence when energy is invested in both reproduction and growth, including rapid skeletal growth around puberty. Although many primates, especially in captivity, experience accelerated growth in mass around puberty, it remains unclear whether this represents skeletal growth. Without data on skeletal growth in nonhuman primates, anthropologists have often assumed the adolescent growth spurt is uniquely human, and hypotheses for its evolution have focused on other uniquely human traits. The lack of data is largely due to methodological difficulties of assessing skeletal growth in wild primates. Here, we use two urinary markers of bone turnover-osteocalcin and collagen-to study skeletal growth in a large, cross-sectional sample of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. For both bone turnover markers, we found a nonlinear effect of age, which was largely driven by males. For male chimpanzees, values for osteocalcin and collagen peaked at age 9.4 years and 10.8 years, respectively, which corresponds to early and middle adolescence. Notably, collagen values increased from 4.5 to 9 years, suggesting faster growth during early adolescence compared to late infancy. Biomarker levels plateaued at 20 years in both sexes, suggesting skeletal growth continues until then. Additional data, notably on females and infants of both sexes, are needed, as are longitudinal samples. However, our cross-sectional analysis suggests an adolescent growth spurt in the skeleton of chimpanzees, especially for males. Biologists should avoid claiming that the adolescent growth spurt is uniquely human, and hypotheses for the patterns of human growth should consider variation in our primate relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron A Sandel
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, WCP 4.102, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Primate Ethology and Endocrinology Lab, University of Texas at Austin, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
| | - Jacob D Negrey
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA; Department of Pathology/Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA
| | - Milja Arponen
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, 20520 Turku, Finland
| | - Isabelle R Clark
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, WCP 4.102, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Primate Ethology and Endocrinology Lab, University of Texas at Austin, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Jeremy B Clift
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Rachna B Reddy
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, 104 Biological Sciences, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - Kaisa K Ivaska
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, 20520 Turku, Finland
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Rib cage anatomy in Homo erectus suggests a recent evolutionary origin of modern human body shape. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:1178-1187. [PMID: 32632258 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1240-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The tall and narrow body shape of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved via changes in the thorax, pelvis and limbs. It is debated, however, whether these modifications first evolved together in African Homo erectus, or whether H. erectus had a more primitive body shape that was distinct from both the more ape-like Australopithecus species and H. sapiens. Here we present the first quantitative three-dimensional reconstruction of the thorax of the juvenile H. erectus skeleton, KNM-WT 15000, from Nariokotome, Kenya, along with its estimated adult rib cage, for comparison with H. sapiens and the Kebara 2 Neanderthal. Our three-dimensional reconstruction demonstrates a short, mediolaterally wide and anteroposteriorly deep thorax in KNM-WT 15000 that differs considerably from the much shallower thorax of H. sapiens, pointing to a recent evolutionary origin of fully modern human body shape. The large respiratory capacity of KNM-WT 15000 is compatible with the relatively stocky, more primitive, body shape of H. erectus.
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Heaton JL, Pickering TR, Carlson KJ, Crompton RH, Jashashvili T, Beaudet A, Bruxelles L, Kuman K, Heile AJ, Stratford D, Clarke RJ. The long limb bones of the StW 573 Australopithecus skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Descriptions and proportions. J Hum Evol 2019; 133:167-197. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2018] [Revised: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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Hammond AS, Almécija S, Libsekal Y, Rook L, Macchiarelli R. A partial Homo pelvis from the Early Pleistocene of Eritrea. J Hum Evol 2018; 123:109-128. [PMID: 30017175 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2018] [Revised: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 06/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Here we analyze 1.07-0.99 million-year-old pelvic remains UA 173/405 from Buia, Eritrea. Based on size metrics, UA 173/405 is likely associated with an already described pubic symphysis (UA 466) found nearby. The morphology of UA 173/405 was quantitatively characterized using three-dimensional landmark-based morphometrics and linear data. The Buia specimen falls within the range of variation of modern humans for all metrics investigated, making it unlikely that the shared last common ancestor of Late Pleistocene Homo species would have had an australopith-like pelvis. The discovery of UA 173/405 adds to the increasing number of fossils suggesting that the postcranial morphology of Homo erectus s.l. was variable and, in some cases, nearly indistinguishable from modern human morphology. This Eritrean fossil demonstrates that modern human-like pelvic morphology may have had origins in the Early Pleistocene, potentially within later African H. erectus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley S Hammond
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; Center for Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
| | - Sergio Almécija
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; Center for Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Lorenzo Rook
- Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra, Università di Firenze, Via G. La Pira, 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy
| | - Roberto Macchiarelli
- UMR 7194 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Palais de Chaillot, 17 Place du Trocadero, 75116 Paris, France; Unité de Formation Géosciences, Université de Poitiers, Bât. B35 Sciences Naturelles, 86073 Poitiers, France.
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Cunningham DL, Graves RR, Wescott DJ, McCarthy RC. The effect of ontogeny on estimates of KNM-WT 15000's adult body size. J Hum Evol 2018; 121:119-127. [PMID: 29754743 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2017] [Revised: 03/30/2018] [Accepted: 04/02/2018] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The Homo erectus specimen KNM-WT 15000 has played a critical role in our understanding of body size evolution. New interpretations suggest that KNM-WT 15000 had a younger age-at-death and a more rapid ontogenetic trajectory than previously suggested. Recent fossil discoveries and new interpretations suggest a wide range of body size and shape variation in H. erectus. Based on these new insights, we argue that KNM-WT 15000's adult stature and body mass could have been much smaller than has been traditionally presented in the literature. Using chimpanzee and modern human growth trajectories, we bracketed the range of possibilities for KNM-WT 15000's adult body size between 160.0 and 177.7 cm (5'3″-5'10″) for stature and 60.0 and 82.7 kg (132-182 lbs.) for body mass. These estimates put KNM-WT 15000 near the mean rather than among the largest known H. erectus specimens.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ronda R Graves
- Grunley Construction Company, Inc., Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Daniel J Wescott
- Texas State University, Department of Anthropology, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
| | - Robert C McCarthy
- Benedictine University, Department of Biological Sciences, Lisle, IL 60532, USA
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Jungers WL, Grabowski M, Hatala KG, Richmond BG. The evolution of body size and shape in the human career. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0247. [PMID: 27298459 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Body size is a fundamental biological property of organisms, and documenting body size variation in hominin evolution is an important goal of palaeoanthropology. Estimating body mass appears deceptively simple but is laden with theoretical and pragmatic assumptions about best predictors and the most appropriate reference samples. Modern human training samples with known masses are arguably the 'best' for estimating size in early bipedal hominins such as the australopiths and all members of the genus Homo, but it is not clear if they are the most appropriate priors for reconstructing the size of the earliest putative hominins such as Orrorin and Ardipithecus The trajectory of body size evolution in the early part of the human career is reviewed here and found to be complex and nonlinear. Australopith body size varies enormously across both space and time. The pre-erectus early Homo fossil record from Africa is poor and dominated by relatively small-bodied individuals, implying that the emergence of the genus Homo is probably not linked to an increase in body size or unprecedented increases in size variation. Body size differences alone cannot explain the observed variation in hominin body shape, especially when examined in the context of small fossil hominins and pygmy modern humans.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- William L Jungers
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY 11795, USA Association Vahatra, BP 3972, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - Mark Grabowski
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G St., NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Kevin G Hatala
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G St., NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Brian G Richmond
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA Department of Human Evolution, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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How much more would KNM-WT 15000 have grown? J Hum Evol 2015; 80:74-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2014] [Revised: 08/14/2014] [Accepted: 09/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Schiess R, Boeni T, Rühli F, Haeusler M. Revisiting scoliosis in the KNM-WT 15000 Homo erectus skeleton. J Hum Evol 2014; 67:48-59. [PMID: 24491377 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2013] [Revised: 10/25/2013] [Accepted: 12/10/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Owing to its completeness, the 1.5 million year old Nariokotome boy skeleton KNM-WT 15000 is central for understanding the skeletal biology of Homo erectus. Nevertheless, since the reported asymmetries and distortions of Nariokotome boy's axial skeleton suggest adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, possibly associated with congenital skeletal dysplasia, it is questionable whether it still can be used as a reference for H. erectus. Recently, however, the presence of skeletal dysplasia has been refuted. Here, we present a morphological and morphometric reanalysis of the assertion of idiopathic scoliosis. We demonstrate that unarticulated vertebral columns of non-scoliotic and scoliotic individuals can be distinguished based on the lateral deviation of the spinous process, lateral and sagittal wedging, vertebral body torsion, pedicle thickness asymmetry, and asymmetry of superior and inferior articular facet areas. A principal component analysis of the overall asymmetry of all seven vertebral shape variables groups KNM-WT 15000 within non-scoliotic modern humans. There is, however, an anomaly of vertebrae T1-T2 that is compatible with a short left convex curve at the uppermost thoracic region, possibly due to injury or local growth dysbalance. Asymmetries of the facet joints L3-L5 suggest a local right convex curve in the lower lumbar region that probably resulted from juvenile traumatic disc herniation. This pattern is incompatible with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis or other types of scoliosis, including congenital, neuromuscular or syndromic scoliosis. It is, however, consistent with a recent reanalysis of the rib cage that did not reveal any asymmetry. Except for these possibly trauma-related anomalies, the Nariokotome boy fossil therefore seems to belong to a normal H. erectus youth without evidence for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis or other severe pathologies of the axial skeleton.
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Affiliation(s)
- Regula Schiess
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zuerich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zuerich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Boeni
- Orthopaedische Universitaetsklinik Balgrist, Forchstrasse 340, 8008 Zuerich, Switzerland; Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zuerich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zuerich, Switzerland
| | - Frank Rühli
- Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zuerich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zuerich, Switzerland
| | - Martin Haeusler
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zuerich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zuerich, Switzerland; Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zuerich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zuerich, Switzerland.
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9
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Dingwall HL, Hatala KG, Wunderlich RE, Richmond BG. Hominin stature, body mass, and walking speed estimates based on 1.5 million-year-old fossil footprints at Ileret, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2013; 64:556-68. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2012] [Revised: 01/20/2013] [Accepted: 02/11/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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10
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Schiess R, Haeusler M. No skeletal dysplasia in the nariokotome boy KNM-WT 15000 (homo erectus)-A reassessment of congenital pathologies of the vertebral column. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2013; 150:365-74. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2012] [Accepted: 11/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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11
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Holliday TW. Body Size, Body Shape, and the Circumscription of the Genus Homo. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1086/667360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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13
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Differences between Neandertal and modern human infant and child growth models. J Hum Evol 2012; 63:140-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2011] [Revised: 04/26/2012] [Accepted: 04/26/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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14
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Wood B, Leakey M. The Omo-Turkana Basin Fossil Hominins and Their Contribution to Our Understanding of Human Evolution in Africa. Evol Anthropol 2011; 20:264-92. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.20335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Haeusler M, Schiess R, Boeni T. New vertebral and rib material point to modern bauplan of the Nariokotome Homo erectus skeleton. J Hum Evol 2011; 61:575-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2011] [Revised: 07/26/2011] [Accepted: 07/26/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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The costal skeleton of Homo antecessor: preliminary results. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:620-40. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2010] [Revised: 06/09/2010] [Accepted: 07/14/2010] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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17
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Graves RR, Lupo AC, McCarthy RC, Wescott DJ, Cunningham DL. Just how strapping was KNM-WT 15000? J Hum Evol 2010; 59:542-54. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2009] [Revised: 05/01/2010] [Accepted: 06/23/2010] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Middle Pleistocene lower back and pelvis from an aged human individual from the Sima de los Huesos site, Spain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010; 107:18386-91. [PMID: 20937858 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1012131107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
We report a nearly complete lumbar spine from the Middle Pleistocene site of the Sima de los Huesos (SH) that is assigned to the previously published SH male Pelvis 1 [Arsuaga JL, et al. (1999). Nature 399: 255-258]. The "SH Pelvis 1 individual" is a unique nearly complete lumbo-pelvic complex from the human Middle Pleistocene fossil record, and offers a rare glimpse into the anatomy and past lifeways of Homo heidelbergensis. A revised reconstruction of Pelvis 1, together with the current fossil evidence, confirms our previous hypothesis that the morphology of this pelvis represents the primitive pattern within the genus Homo. Here we argue that this primitive pattern is also characterized by sexual dimorphism in the pelvic canal shape, implying complicated deliveries. In addition, this individual shows signs of lumbar kyphotic deformity, spondylolisthesis, and Baastrup disease. This suite of lesions would have postural consequences and was most likely painful. As a result, the individual's daily physical activities would have been restricted to some extent. Reexamination of the age-at-death agrees with this individual being over 45 y old, relying on the modern human pattern of changes of the articular surfaces of the os coxae. The presence of degenerative pathological lesions and the advanced age-at-death of this individual make it the most ancient postcranial evidence of an aged individual in the human fossil record. Additional nonpathological SH lumbo-pelvic remains are consistent with previous hypotheses, suggesting a less-pronounced sagittal spinal curvature in Neandertals compared with Homo sapiens.
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Cardoso HF. A Test of Three Methods for Estimating Stature from Immature Skeletal Remains Using Long Bone Lengths*. J Forensic Sci 2009; 54:13-9. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00916.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Abstract
This review has three main aims: (1) to make specific predictions about the habitat of the hypothetical last common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo-human clade; (2) to outline the major trends in environments between 8-6 Ma and the late Pleistocene; and (3) to pinpoint when, and in some cases where, human ancestors evolved to cope with the wide range of habitats they presently tolerate. Several lines of evidence indicate that arboreal environments, particularly woodlands, were important habitats for late Miocene hominids and hominins, and therefore possibly for the last common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo-human clade. However, as there is no clear candidate for this last common ancestor, and because the sampling of fossils and past environments is inevitably patchy, this prediction remains a working hypothesis at best. Nonetheless, as a primate, it is expected that the last common ancestor was ecologically dependent on trees in some form. Understanding past environments is important, as palaeoenvironmental reconstructions provide the context for human morphological and behavioural evolution. Indeed, the impact of climate on the evolutionary history of our species has long been debated. Since the mid-Miocene, the Earth has been experiencing a general cooling trend accompanied by aridification, which intensified during the later Pliocene and Pleistocene. Numerous climatic fluctuations, as well as local, regional and continental geography that influenced weather patterns and vegetation, created hominin environments that were dynamic in space and time. Behavioural flexibility and cultural complexity were crucial aspects of hominin expansion into diverse environments during the Pleistocene, but the ability to exploit varied and varying habitats was established much earlier in human evolutionary history. The development of increasingly complex tool technology facilitated re-expansion into tropical forests. These environments are difficult for obligate bipeds to negotiate, but their exploitation was accomplished by archaic and/or anatomically modern humans independently in Africa and south-east Asia. Complex social behaviour and material culture also allowed modern humans to reach some of the most hostile regions of the globe, above the Arctic Circle, by the late Pleistocene. This, with colonization of the Americas and Australasia, established Homo sapiens as a truly cosmopolitan species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Elton
- Functional Morphology and Evolution Unit, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, UK.
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Crompton RH, Vereecke EE, Thorpe SKS. Locomotion and posture from the common hominoid ancestor to fully modern hominins, with special reference to the last common panin/hominin ancestor. J Anat 2008; 212:501-43. [PMID: 18380868 PMCID: PMC2409101 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.00870.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/07/2008] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Based on our knowledge of locomotor biomechanics and ecology we predict the locomotion and posture of the last common ancestors of (a) great and lesser apes and their close fossil relatives (hominoids); (b) chimpanzees, bonobos and modern humans (hominines); and (c) modern humans and their fossil relatives (hominins). We evaluate our propositions against the fossil record in the context of a broader review of evolution of the locomotor system from the earliest hominoids of modern aspect (crown hominoids) to early modern Homo sapiens. While some early East African stem hominoids were pronograde, it appears that the adaptations which best characterize the crown hominoids are orthogrady and an ability to abduct the arm above the shoulder - rather than, as is often thought, manual suspension sensu stricto. At 7-9 Ma (not much earlier than the likely 4-8 Ma divergence date for panins and hominins, see Bradley, 2008) there were crown hominoids in southern Europe which were adapted to moving in an orthograde posture, supported primarily on the hindlimb, in an arboreal, and possibly for Oreopithecus, a terrestrial context. By 7 Ma, Sahelanthropus provides evidence of a Central African hominin, panin or possibly gorilline adapted to orthogrady, and both orthogrady and habitually highly extended postures of the hip are evident in the arboreal East African protohominin Orrorin at 6 Ma. If the traditional idea that hominins passed through a terrestrial 'knuckle-walking' phase is correct, not only does it have to be explained how a quadrupedal gait typified by flexed postures of the hindlimb could have preadapted the body for the hominin acquisition of straight-legged erect bipedality, but we would have to accept a transition from stem-hominoid pronogrady to crown hominoid orthogrady, back again to pronogrady in the African apes and then back to orthogrady in hominins. Hand-assisted arboreal bipedality, which is part of a continuum of orthograde behaviours, is used by modern orangutans to forage among the small branches at the periphery of trees where the core hominoid dietary resource, ripe fruit, is most often to be found. Derivation of habitual terrestrial bipedality from arboreal hand-assisted bipedality requires fewer transitions, and is also kinematically and kinetically more parsimonious.
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Affiliation(s)
- R H Crompton
- School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Liverpool, Sherrington Buildings, Ashton Street, Liverpool L69 3GE, UK.
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Antón SC. Natural history of Homo erectus. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2008; Suppl 37:126-70. [PMID: 14666536 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.10399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 351] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Our view of H. erectus is vastly different today than when Pithecanthropus erectus was described in 1894. Since its synonimization into Homo, views of the species and its distribution have varied from a single, widely dispersed, polytypic species ultimately ancestral to all later Homo, to a derived, regional isolate ultimately marginal to later hominin evolution. A revised chronostratigraphic framework and recent work bearing either directly or indirectly on reconstructions of life-history patterns are reviewed here and, together with a review of the cranial and postcranial anatomy of H. erectus, are used to generate a natural history of the species. Here I argue that H. erectus is a hominin, notable for its increased body size, that originates in the latest Pliocene/earliest Pleistocene of Africa and quickly disperses into Western and Eastern Asia. It is also an increasingly derived hominin with several regional morphs sustained by intermittent isolation, particularly in Southeast Asia. This view differs from several current views, most especially that which recognizes only a single hominin species in the Pleistocene, H. sapiens, and those which would atomize H. erectus into a multiplicity of taxa. Following Jolly ([2001] Yrbk Phys Anthropol 44:177-204), the regional morphs of H. erectus may be productively viewed as geographically replacing allotaxa, rather than as the focus of unresolvable species debates. Such a view allows us to focus on the adaptations and biology of local groups, including questions of biogeographic isolation and local adaptation. A number of issues remain unresolved, including the significance of diversity in size and shape in the early African and Georgian records.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan C Antón
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.
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Abstract
Three methods of measuring stature from skeletal remains are reviewed: the reconstructed skeletal length, the correspondence of long bone length to stature and the regression of stature on long bone length. Each involves problems and difficulties. For the anthropologist, there is the additional problem of applying findings from extant taxa to extinct taxa with potentially different morphologies and limb proportions. Of the various studies involving regression of the stature the findings of Trotter and Gleser are judged the most robust and useful notwithstanding problems and limitations. The lumbar vertebrae are potentially important as stature predictors. Estimation of body mass from the skeleton is also beset with problems. Eight methods are reviewed: Hartwig-Scherer's taxon independent solution, four methods involving measurements from the weight-bearing appendicular skeleton, Ruff's method using the length of the reconstructed skeleton and an estimate of body breadth, estimates from the total skeletal mass and estimates from the body mass index when the stature is known approximately. Lumbar vertebrae provide reasonable estimates of both body mass and stature and thus by derivation the body mass index. At present both forensic scientists and anthropologists lack adequate data and methods to estimate body size and shape from hominin skeletons. A further large and well-designed study using magnetic resonance imaging is required.
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