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Pablos A, Arsuaga JL. Tarsals from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2024; 307:2635-2664. [PMID: 38477186 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
Here, we provide a complete, updated, and illustrated inventory, as well as a comprehensive study, of the tarsals (rearfoot) recovered from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (SH, Atapuerca, Spain) in comparison to other Homo comparative samples, both extant and fossil. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) estimated from the tarsals has been established as 15, which represents 51.7% of the 29 dental individuals identified within the SH sample. Within the SH hominin foot sample, an exclusive combination of primitive or plesiomorphic and derived or autapomorphic traits can be observed when compared with other Homo individuals/populations. Other characters are shared among SH hominins and Neandertals that might represent shared derived or autapomorphic traits for this evolutionary line, and most are likely related to robusticity (e.g., rectangular-like trochlea of the talus, broad calcanei, broad naviculars, and short lateral cuneiforms). Additionally, we observed some exclusive autapomorphic traits in the SH tarsal sample (e.g., narrow head of the talus and short intermediate cuneiforms). A few exclusive traits in SH tarsal remains are even more robust than in Neandertals (e.g., broad lateral malleolar facet in talus, more projected sustentaculum tali, and broad medial cuneiform). These traits could suggest a slightly higher level of gracilization in the tarsal bones of Neandertals compared to the SH sample that is also supported by other anatomical postcranial skeleton elements. Additionally, some paleobiological inferences are made in relation to body size (stature and body mass) and some associations are proposed within the SH sample. In conclusion, the morphology of the SH tarsi confirms an evolutionary relationship of sister groups between this population and Neandertals, probably representing a morphotype similar to the Neandertal ancestors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrián Pablos
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
| | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
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2
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Pablos A, Arsuaga JL. Metatarsals and foot phalanges from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2024; 307:2665-2707. [PMID: 38380556 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
This study provides a complete, updated and illustrated inventory, as well as a comprehensive study, of the metatarsals and foot phalanges (forefoot) recovered from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (SH, Atapuerca, Spain) in comparison to other Homo comparative samples, both extant and fossils. This current updated review has established a minimum number of individuals (MNI) of 17, which represent 58.6% of the 29 dental individuals identified within the SH sample. An exclusive or autoapomorphic combination of traits can be recognized within the SH hominin foot sample. A few traits appear primitive or plesiomorphic when compared with earlier Homo individuals and other recent modern humans. There are other metrical and morphological traits that SH hominins and Neandertals have in common that sometimes represent shared derived traits in this evolutionary line, most of which are probably related to robusticity. Furthermore, some exclusive autoapomorphic traits are observed in the SH sample: a very broad first metatarsal, long and broad hallucal proximal foot phalanges and possibly extremely robust lateral distal foot phalanges compared to those of Neandertals and modern humans. In these last traits, the SH metatarsals and pedal phalanges are even more robust than in Neandertals. They are herein named as "hyper-Neandertal" traits, which could suggest a slight gracilization process in this evolutionary line, at least in the hallux toe. Finally, some paleobiological inferences are made in relation to body size (stature and body mass) and some associations are proposed within the SH sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrián Pablos
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
- Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
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3
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Grine FE, Mongle CS, Fleagle JG, Hammond AS. The taxonomic attribution of African hominin postcrania from the Miocene through the Pleistocene: Associations and assumptions. J Hum Evol 2022; 173:103255. [PMID: 36375243 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Revised: 08/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Postcranial bones may provide valuable information about fossil taxa relating to their locomotor habits, manipulative abilities and body sizes. Distinctive features of the postcranial skeleton are sometimes noted in species diagnoses. Although numerous isolated postcranial fossils have become accepted by many workers as belonging to a particular species, it is worthwhile revisiting the evidence for each attribution before including them in comparative samples in relation to the descriptions of new fossils, functional analyses in relation to particular taxa, or in evolutionary contexts. Although some workers eschew the taxonomic attribution of postcranial fossils as being less important (or interesting) than interpreting their functional morphology, it is impossible to consider the evolution of functional anatomy in a taxonomic and phylogenetic vacuum. There are 21 widely recognized hominin taxa that have been described from sites in Africa dated from the Late Miocene to the Middle Pleistocene; postcranial elements have been attributed to 17 of these. The bones that have been thus assigned range from many parts of a skeleton to isolated elements. However, the extent to which postcranial material can be reliably attributed to a specific taxon varies considerably from site to site and species to species, and is often the subject of considerable debate. Here, we review the postcranial remains attributed to African hominin taxa from the Late Miocene to the Middle and Late Pleistocene and place these assignations into categories of reliability. The catalog of attributions presented here may serve as a guide for making taxonomic decisions in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA.
| | - Carrie S Mongle
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA; Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA
| | - John G Fleagle
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA
| | - Ashley S Hammond
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA; New York Consortium of Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), New York, NY 10024, USA
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4
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Foerster V, Asrat A, Bronk Ramsey C, Brown ET, Chapot MS, Deino A, Duesing W, Grove M, Hahn A, Junginger A, Kaboth-Bahr S, Lane CS, Opitz S, Noren A, Roberts HM, Stockhecke M, Tiedemann R, Vidal CM, Vogelsang R, Cohen AS, Lamb HF, Schaebitz F, Trauth MH. Pleistocene climate variability in eastern Africa influenced hominin evolution. NATURE GEOSCIENCE 2022; 15:805-811. [PMID: 36254302 PMCID: PMC9560894 DOI: 10.1038/s41561-022-01032-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Despite more than half a century of hominin fossil discoveries in eastern Africa, the regional environmental context of hominin evolution and dispersal is not well established due to the lack of continuous palaeoenvironmental records from one of the proven habitats of early human populations, particularly for the Pleistocene epoch. Here we present a 620,000-year environmental record from Chew Bahir, southern Ethiopia, which is proximal to key fossil sites. Our record documents the potential influence of different episodes of climatic variability on hominin biological and cultural transformation. The appearance of high anatomical diversity in hominin groups coincides with long-lasting and relatively stable humid conditions from ~620,000 to 275,000 years bp (episodes 1-6), interrupted by several abrupt and extreme hydroclimate perturbations. A pattern of pronounced climatic cyclicity transformed habitats during episodes 7-9 (~275,000-60,000 years bp), a crucial phase encompassing the gradual transition from Acheulean to Middle Stone Age technologies, the emergence of Homo sapiens in eastern Africa and key human social and cultural innovations. Those accumulative innovations plus the alignment of humid pulses between northeastern Africa and the eastern Mediterranean during high-frequency climate oscillations of episodes 10-12 (~60,000-10,000 years bp) could have facilitated the global dispersal of H. sapiens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verena Foerster
- Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Asfawossen Asrat
- Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, Botswana International University of Science and Technology, Palapye, Botswana
- School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - Erik T. Brown
- Large Lakes Observatory and Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN USA
| | - Melissa S. Chapot
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK
| | - Alan Deino
- Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA USA
| | - Walter Duesing
- Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Matthew Grove
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Annette Hahn
- MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Annett Junginger
- Department of Geoscience, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | | | - Stephan Opitz
- Institute for Geography, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Anders Noren
- LacCore/CSDCO, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN USA
| | - Helen M. Roberts
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK
| | - Mona Stockhecke
- Large Lakes Observatory and Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN USA
| | - Ralph Tiedemann
- Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Céline M. Vidal
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ralf Vogelsang
- Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Andrew S. Cohen
- Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ USA
| | - Henry F. Lamb
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK
- Department of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Frank Schaebitz
- Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Martin H. Trauth
- Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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Unique foot posture in Neanderthals reflects their body mass and high mechanical stress. J Hum Evol 2021; 161:103093. [PMID: 34749003 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2021] [Revised: 10/02/2021] [Accepted: 10/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Neanderthal foot bone proportions and morphology are mostly indistinguishable from those of Homo sapiens, with the exception of several distinct Neanderthal features in the talus. The biomechanical implications of these distinct talar features remain contentious, fueling debate around the adaptive meaning of this distinctiveness. With the aim of clarifying this controversy, we test phylogenetic and behavioral factors as possible contributors, comparing tali of 10 Neanderthals and 81 H. sapiens (Upper Paleolithic and Holocene hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists, and postindustrial group) along with the Clark Howell talus (Omo, Ethiopia). Variation in external talar structures was assessed through geometric morphometric methods, while bone volume fraction and degree of anisotropy were quantified in a subsample (n = 45). Finally, covariation between point clouds of site-specific trabecular variables and surface landmark coordinates was assessed. Our results show that although Neanderthal talar external and internal morphologies were distinct from those of H. sapiens groups, shape did not significantly covary with either bone volume fraction or degree of anisotropy, suggesting limited covariation between external and internal talar structures. Neanderthal external talar morphology reflects ancestral retentions, along with various adaptations to high levels of mobility correlated to their presumably unshod hunter-gatherer lifestyle. This pairs with their high site-specific trabecular bone volume fraction and anisotropy, suggesting intense and consistently oriented locomotor loading, respectively. Relative to H.sapiens, Neanderthals exhibit differences in the talocrural joint that are potentially attributable to cultural and locomotor behavior dissimilarity, a talonavicular joint that mixes ancestral and functional traits, and a derived subtalar joint that suggests a predisposition for a pronated foot during stance phase. Overall, Neanderthal talar variation is attributable to mobility strategy and phylogenesis, while H. sapiens talar variation results from the same factors plus footwear. Our results suggest that greater Neanderthal body mass and/or higher mechanical stress uniquely led to their habitually pronated foot posture.
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Grine FE, Gonzalvo E, Rossouw L, Holt S, Black W, Braga J. Variation in Middle Stone Age mandibular molar enamel-dentine junction topography at Klasies River Main Site assessed by diffeomorphic surface matching. J Hum Evol 2021; 161:103079. [PMID: 34739985 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Revised: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The morphology and variability of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) hominin fossils from Klasies River Main Site have been the focus of investigation for more than four decades. The mandibular remains have figured prominently in discussions relating to robusticity, size dimorphism, and symphyseal morphology. Variation in corpus size between the robust SAM-AP 6223 and the diminutive SAM-AP 6225 mandibles is particularly impressive, and the difference between the buccolingual diameters of their M2s significantly exceeds recent human sample variation. SAM-AP 6223 and SAM-AP 6225 are the only Klasies specimens with homologous teeth (M2 and M3) that permit comparisons of crown morphology. While the differences in dental trait expression at the outer enamel surfaces of these molars are slight, diffeomorphic surface analyses of their underlying enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) topographies reveal differences that are well beyond the means of pairwise differences among comparative samples of Later Stone Age (LSA) Khoesan and recent African homologues. The EDJs of both SAM-AP 6225 molars and the SAM-AP 6223 M3 fall outside the envelopes that define the morphospace of these two samples. Although the radiocarbon dated LSA individuals examined here differ by a maximum of some 7000 years, and the two Klasies jaws may differ by perhaps as much as 18,000 years, it is difficult to ascribe their differences to time alone. With reference to the morphoscopic traits by which the SAM-AP 6223 and SAM-AP 6225 EDJs differ, the most striking is the expression of the protoconid cingulum. This is very weakly developed on the SAM-AP 6223 molars and distinct in SAM-AP 6225. As such, this diminutive fossil exhibits a more pronounced manifestation of what is likely a plesiomorphic feature, thus adding to the morphological mosaicism that is evident in the Klasies hominin assemblage. Several possible explanations for the variation and mosaicism in this MSA sample are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA.
| | - Elsa Gonzalvo
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, France
| | - Lloyd Rossouw
- Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, The National Museum, 36 Aliwal Street, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
| | - Sharon Holt
- Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, The National Museum, 36 Aliwal Street, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
| | - Wendy Black
- Archaeology Unit, Research and Exhibitions Department, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - José Braga
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, France; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
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7
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Pearson OM, Hill EC, Peppe DJ, Van Plantinga A, Blegen N, Faith JT, Tryon CA. A Late Pleistocene human humerus from Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2020; 146:102855. [PMID: 32781348 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2019] [Revised: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In 2010, a hominin right humerus fragment (KNM-RU 58330) was surface collected in a small gully at Nyamita North in the Late Pleistocene Wasiriya Beds of Rusinga Island, Kenya. A combination of stratigraphic and geochronological evidence suggests the specimen is likely between ∼49 and 36 ka in age. The associated fauna is diverse and dominated by semiarid grassland taxa. The small sample of associated Middle Stone Age artifacts includes Levallois flakes, cores, and retouched points. The 139 mm humeral fragment preserves the shaft from distal to the lesser tubercle to 14 mm below the distal end of the weakly projecting deltoid tuberosity. Key morphological features include a narrow and weakly marked pectoralis major insertion and a distinctive medial bend in the diaphysis at the deltoid insertion. This bend is unusual among recent human humeri but occurs in a few Late Pleistocene humeri. The dimensions of the distal end of the fragment predict a length of 317.9 ± 16.4 mm based on recent samples of African ancestry. A novel method of predicting humeral length from the distance between the middle of the pectoralis major and the bottom of the deltoid insertion predicts a length of 317.3 mm ± 17.6 mm. Cross-sectional geometry at the midshaft shows a relatively high percentage of cortical bone and a moderate degree of flattening of the shaft. The Nyamita humerus is anatomically modern in its morphology and adds to the small sample of hominins from the Late Pleistocene associated with Middle Stone Age artifacts known from East Africa. It may sample a population closely related to the people of the out-of-Africa migration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osbjorn M Pearson
- Department of Anthropology, MSC01-1040, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
| | - Ethan C Hill
- Department of Anthropology, MSC01-1040, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
| | - Daniel J Peppe
- Terrestrial Paleoclimatology Research Group, Department of Geosciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 76706, USA
| | - Alex Van Plantinga
- Terrestrial Paleoclimatology Research Group, Department of Geosciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 76706, USA
| | - Nick Blegen
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah, Rio Tinto Center, 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA; Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 260 S. Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Christian A Tryon
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
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8
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Ruff CB, Squyres N, Junno J. Body mass estimation in hominins from humeral articular dimensions. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2020; 173:480-499. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher B. Ruff
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore Maryland USA
| | - Nicole Squyres
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore Maryland USA
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9
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Pablos A, Gómez-Olivencia A, Maureille B, Holliday TW, Madelaine S, Trinkaus E, Couture-Veschambre C. Neandertal foot remains from Regourdou 1 (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France). J Hum Evol 2019; 128:17-44. [PMID: 30825980 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2017] [Revised: 11/04/2018] [Accepted: 11/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Regourdou is a well-known Middle Paleolithic site which has yielded the fossil remains of a minimum of two Neandertal individuals. The first individual (Regourdou 1) is represented by a partial skeleton while the second one is represented by a calcaneus. The foot remains of Regourdou 1 have been used in a number of comparative studies, but to date a full description and comparison of all the foot remains from the Regourdou 1 Neandertal, coming from the old excavations and from the recent reanalysis of the faunal remains, does not exist. Here, we describe and comparatively assess the Regourdou 1 tarsals, metatarsals and phalanges. They display traits observed in other Neandertal feet, which are different from some traits of the Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca) hominins and of Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic and recent modern humans. These Neandertal features are: a rectangular talar trochlea with a large lateral malleolar facet, a broad talar head, a broad calcaneus with a projecting sustentaculum tali, a wide and wedged navicular with a projecting medial tubercle, large and wide bases of the lateral metatarsals, and mediolaterally expanded and robust phalanges that also show hallux valgus in a strongly built hallux.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrián Pablos
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre La Evolución Humana-CENIEH, Burgos, Spain; Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de La Vida, Universidad de Alcalá-UAH, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Asier Gómez-Olivencia
- Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Spain; IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Spain; Équipe de Paléontologie Humaine, UMR 7194, CNRS, Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d'Histoire naturelle, Musée de l'Homme, 17, Place Du Trocadéro, 75016 Paris, France; Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Bruno Maureille
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Ministère de La Culture et de la Communication, PACEA UMR 5199, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, FR-33615 Pessac, France
| | - Trenton W Holliday
- Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
| | - Stéphane Madelaine
- Musée national de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France; Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Ministère de La Culture et de la Communication, PACEA UMR 5199, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, FR-33615 Pessac, France
| | - Erik Trinkaus
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Christine Couture-Veschambre
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Ministère de La Culture et de la Communication, PACEA UMR 5199, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, FR-33615 Pessac, France
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10
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DeSilva J, McNutt E, Benoit J, Zipfel B. One small step: A review of Plio‐Pleistocene hominin foot evolution. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 168 Suppl 67:63-140. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Revised: 10/01/2018] [Accepted: 10/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy DeSilva
- Department of AnthropologyDartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of GeosciencesUniversity of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa
| | - Ellison McNutt
- Department of AnthropologyDartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire
| | - Julien Benoit
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of GeosciencesUniversity of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa
| | - Bernhard Zipfel
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of GeosciencesUniversity of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa
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11
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McNutt EJ, Zipfel B, DeSilva JM. The evolution of the human foot. Evol Anthropol 2018; 27:197-217. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2017] [Revised: 04/20/2018] [Accepted: 05/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ellison J. McNutt
- Department of Anthropology; Dartmouth College; Hanover New Hampshire
- Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems, and Society; Dartmouth College; Hanover New Hampshire
| | - Bernhard Zipfel
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg South Africa
| | - Jeremy M. DeSilva
- Department of Anthropology; Dartmouth College; Hanover New Hampshire
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg South Africa
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12
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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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13
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Pomeroy E, Mirazón Lahr M, Crivellaro F, Farr L, Reynolds T, Hunt CO, Barker G. Newly discovered Neanderthal remains from Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan, and their attribution to Shanidar 5. J Hum Evol 2017; 111:102-118. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2017] [Revised: 06/29/2017] [Accepted: 07/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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14
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Stringer C. The origin and evolution of Homo sapiens. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0237. [PMID: 27298468 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 133] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
If we restrict the use of Homo sapiens in the fossil record to specimens which share a significant number of derived features in the skeleton with extant H. sapiens, the origin of our species would be placed in the African late middle Pleistocene, based on fossils such as Omo Kibish 1, Herto 1 and 2, and the Levantine material from Skhul and Qafzeh. However, genetic data suggest that we and our sister species Homo neanderthalensis shared a last common ancestor in the middle Pleistocene approximately 400-700 ka, which is at least 200 000 years earlier than the species origin indicated from the fossils already mentioned. Thus, it is likely that the African fossil record will document early members of the sapiens lineage showing only some of the derived features of late members of the lineage. On that basis, I argue that human fossils such as those from Jebel Irhoud, Florisbad, Eliye Springs and Omo Kibish 2 do represent early members of the species, but variation across the African later middle Pleistocene/early Middle Stone Age fossils shows that there was not a simple linear progression towards later sapiens morphology, and there was chronological overlap between different 'archaic' and 'modern' morphs. Even in the late Pleistocene within and outside Africa, we find H. sapiens specimens which are clearly outside the range of Holocene members of the species, showing the complexity of recent human evolution. The impact on species recognition of late Pleistocene gene flow between the lineages of modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans is also discussed, and finally, I reconsider the nature of the middle Pleistocene ancestor of these lineages, based on recent morphological and genetic data.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Stringer
- Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
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15
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Rosas A, Ferrando A, Bastir M, García-Tabernero A, Estalrrich A, Huguet R, García-Martínez D, Pastor JF, de la Rasilla M. Neandertal talus bones from El Sidrón site (Asturias, Spain): A 3D geometric morphometrics analysis. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2017; 164:394-415. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2016] [Revised: 06/16/2017] [Accepted: 06/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Rosas
- Group of Paleoanthropology MNCN-CSIC; Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC; Madrid 28006 Spain
| | - Anabel Ferrando
- Group of Paleoanthropology MNCN-CSIC; Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC; Madrid 28006 Spain
| | - Markus Bastir
- Group of Paleoanthropology MNCN-CSIC; Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC; Madrid 28006 Spain
| | - Antonio García-Tabernero
- Group of Paleoanthropology MNCN-CSIC; Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC; Madrid 28006 Spain
| | - Almudena Estalrrich
- Department of Paleoanthropology; Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt; Frankfurt A. M D-60325 Germany
| | - Rosa Huguet
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES); Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Tarragona 43005 Spain
| | - Daniel García-Martínez
- Group of Paleoanthropology MNCN-CSIC; Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC; Madrid 28006 Spain
| | - Juan Francisco Pastor
- Museo Anatómico; departamento de Anatomía Humana, Universidad de Valladolid; Valladolid 47005 Spain
| | - Marco de la Rasilla
- Área de Prehistoria; Department of History, Universidad de Oviedo. Calle Teniente Alfonso Martínez s/n; Oviedo 33011 Spain
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16
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Hammond AS, Royer DF, Fleagle JG. The Omo-Kibish I pelvis. J Hum Evol 2017; 108:199-219. [PMID: 28552208 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2017] [Revised: 04/13/2017] [Accepted: 04/15/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Omo-Kibish I (Omo I) from southern Ethiopia is the oldest anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeleton currently known (196 ± 5 ka). A partial hipbone (os coxae) of Omo I was recovered more than 30 years after the first portion of the skeleton was recovered, a find which is significant because human pelves can be informative about an individual's sex, age-at-death, body size, obstetrics and parturition, and trunk morphology. Recent human pelves are distinct from earlier Pleistocene Homo spp. pelves because they are mediolaterally narrower in bispinous breadth, have more vertically oriented ilia, lack a well-developed iliac pillar, and have distinct pubic morphology. The pelvis of Omo I provides an opportunity to test whether the earliest modern humans had the pelvic morphology characteristic of modern humans today and to shed light onto the paleobiology of the earliest humans. Here, we formally describe the preservation and morphology of the Omo I hipbone, and quantitatively and qualitatively compare the hipbone to recent humans and relevant fossil Homo. The Omo I hipbone is modern human in appearance, displaying a moderate iliac tubercle (suggesting a reduced iliac pillar) and an ilium that is not as laterally flaring as earlier Homo. Among those examined in this study, the Omo I ischium is most similar in shape to (but substantially larger than) that of recent Sudanese people. Omo I has features that suggest this skeleton belonged to a female. The stature estimates in this study were derived from multiple bones from the upper and lower part of the body, and suggest that there may be differences in the upper and lower limb proportions of the earliest modern humans compared to recent humans. The large size and robusticity of the Omo I pelvis is in agreement with other studies that have found that modern human reduction in postcranial robusticity occurred later in our evolutionary history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley S Hammond
- Center for Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
| | - Danielle F Royer
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, 80204, USA
| | - John G Fleagle
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
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17
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Crevecoeur I, Brooks A, Ribot I, Cornelissen E, Semal P. Late Stone Age human remains from Ishango (Democratic Republic of Congo): New insights on Late Pleistocene modern human diversity in Africa. J Hum Evol 2016; 96:35-57. [PMID: 27343771 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2015] [Revised: 04/08/2016] [Accepted: 04/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Although questions of modern human origins and dispersal are subject to intense research within and outside Africa, the processes of modern human diversification during the Late Pleistocene are most often discussed within the context of recent human genetic data. This situation is due largely to the dearth of human fossil remains dating to the final Pleistocene in Africa and their almost total absence from West and Central Africa, thus limiting our perception of modern human diversification within Africa before the Holocene. Here, we present a morphometric comparative analysis of the earliest Late Pleistocene modern human remains from the Central African site of Ishango in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The early Late Stone Age layer (eLSA) of this site, dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (25-20 Ky), contains more than one hundred fragmentary human remains. The exceptional associated archaeological context suggests these remains derived from a community of hunter-fisher-gatherers exhibiting complex social and cognitive behaviors including substantial reliance on aquatic resources, development of fishing technology, possible mathematical notations and repetitive use of space, likely on a seasonal basis. Comparisons with large samples of Late Pleistocene and early Holocene modern human fossils from Africa and Eurasia show that the Ishango human remains exhibit distinctive characteristics and a higher phenotypic diversity in contrast to recent African populations. In many aspects, as is true for the inner ear conformation, these eLSA human remains have more affinities with Middle to early Late Pleistocene fossils worldwide than with extant local African populations. In addition, cross-sectional geometric properties of the long bones are consistent with archaeological evidence suggesting reduced terrestrial mobility resulting from greater investment in and use of aquatic resources. Our results on the Ishango human remains provide insights into past African modern human diversity and adaptation that are consistent with genetic theories about the deep sub-structure of Late Pleistocene African populations and their complex evolutionary history of isolation and diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Crevecoeur
- UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France.
| | - A Brooks
- Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA
| | - I Ribot
- Département d'Anthropologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - E Cornelissen
- Culturele Antropologie/Prehistorie en Archeologie, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika (KMMA), Tervuren, Belgium
| | - P Semal
- Scientific Service of Heritage, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Brussels, Belgium
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18
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Gruss LT, Schmitt D. The evolution of the human pelvis: changing adaptations to bipedalism, obstetrics and thermoregulation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:20140063. [PMID: 25602067 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The fossil record of the human pelvis reveals the selective priorities acting on hominin anatomy at different points in our evolutionary history, during which mechanical requirements for locomotion, childbirth and thermoregulation often conflicted. In our earliest upright ancestors, fundamental alterations of the pelvis compared with non-human primates facilitated bipedal walking. Further changes early in hominin evolution produced a platypelloid birth canal in a pelvis that was wide overall, with flaring ilia. This pelvic form was maintained over 3-4 Myr with only moderate changes in response to greater habitat diversity, changes in locomotor behaviour and increases in brain size. It was not until Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and the Middle East 200 000 years ago that the narrow anatomically modern pelvis with a more circular birth canal emerged. This major change appears to reflect selective pressures for further increases in neonatal brain size and for a narrow body shape associated with heat dissipation in warm environments. The advent of the modern birth canal, the shape and alignment of which require fetal rotation during birth, allowed the earliest members of our species to deal obstetrically with increases in encephalization while maintaining a narrow body to meet thermoregulatory demands and enhance locomotor performance.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Daniel Schmitt
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
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19
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Grine FE. The Late Quaternary Hominins of Africa: The Skeletal Evidence from MIS 6-2. AFRICA FROM MIS 6-2 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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20
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Parr WCH, Soligo C, Smaers J, Chatterjee HJ, Ruto A, Cornish L, Wroe S. Three-dimensional shape variation of talar surface morphology in hominoid primates. J Anat 2014; 225:42-59. [PMID: 24842795 DOI: 10.1111/joa.12195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The hominoid foot is of particular interest to biological anthropologists, as changes in its anatomy through time reflect the adoption of terrestrial locomotion, particularly in species of Australopithecus and Homo. Understanding the osteological morphology associated with changes in whole foot function and the development of the plantar medial longitudinal foot arch are key to understanding the transition through habitual bipedalism in australopithecines to obligate bipedalism and long-distance running in Homo. The talus is ideal for studying relationships between morphology and function in this context, as it is a major contributor to the adduction-abduction, plantar-dorsal flexion and inversion-eversion of the foot, and transmits all forces encountered from the foot to the leg. The talar surface is predominantly covered by articular facets, which have different quantifiable morphological characters, including surface area, surface curvature and orientation. The talus also presents challenges to the investigator, as its globular shape is very difficult to quantify accurately and reproducibly. Here we apply a three-dimensional approach using type 3 landmarks (slid semilandmarks) that are geometrically homologous to determine overall talar shape variations in a range of living and fossil hominoid taxa. Additionally, we use novel approaches to quantify the relative orientations and curvatures of talar articular facets by determining the principal vectors of facet orientation and fitting spheres to articular facets. The resulting metrics are analysed using phylogenetic regressions and principal components analyses. Our results suggest that articular surface curvatures reflect locomotor specialisations with, in particular, orangutans having more highly curved facets in all but the calcaneal facet. Similarly, our approach to quantifying articular facet orientation appears to be effective in discriminating between extant hominoid species, and may therefore provide a sound basis for the study of fossil taxa and evolution of bipedalism in Australopithecus and Homo.
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Affiliation(s)
- W C H Parr
- Surgical and Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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21
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22
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Mersey B, Brudvik K, Black MT, Defleur A. Neanderthal axial and appendicular remains from Moula-Guercy, Ardèche, France. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2013; 152:530-42. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2013] [Accepted: 09/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ben Mersey
- Human Evolution Research Center; University of California Berkeley; 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley CA 94720-3160
- Department of Integrative Biology; University of California Berkeley; 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley CA 94720-3140
| | - Kyle Brudvik
- Human Evolution Research Center; University of California Berkeley; 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley CA 94720-3160
- Department of Integrative Biology; University of California Berkeley; 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley CA 94720-3140
| | - Michael T. Black
- Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology; University of California Berkeley; 103 Kroeber Hall Berkeley CA 94720-3712
| | - Alban Defleur
- CNRS UMR 5276, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Ecole Normale Supérieur de Lyon, Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
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23
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Pablos A, Martínez I, Lorenzo C, Gracia A, Sala N, Arsuaga JL. Human talus bones from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). J Hum Evol 2013; 65:79-92. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2012] [Revised: 04/24/2013] [Accepted: 04/25/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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24
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Mednikova M. Distal Phalanx of the Hand of Homo from Denisova Cave Stratum 12: A Tentative Description. ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY OF EURASIA 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.aeae.2013.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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25
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New Neanderthal remains from Mani peninsula, Southern Greece: The Kalamakia Middle Paleolithic cave site. J Hum Evol 2013; 64:486-99. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2012] [Revised: 11/02/2012] [Accepted: 02/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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26
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Pablos A, Gómez-Olivencia A, García-Pérez A, Martínez I, Lorenzo C, Arsuaga JL. From toe to head: Use of robust regression methods in stature estimation based on foot remains. Forensic Sci Int 2013; 226:299.e1-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2012] [Revised: 11/01/2012] [Accepted: 01/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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27
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Pablos A, Lorenzo C, Martínez I, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Martinón-Torres M, Carbonell E, Arsuaga JL. New foot remains from the Gran Dolina-TD6 Early Pleistocene site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). J Hum Evol 2012; 63:610-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2012] [Revised: 06/28/2012] [Accepted: 06/28/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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28
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Aubert M, Pike AWG, Stringer C, Bartsiokas A, Kinsley L, Eggins S, Day M, Grün R. Confirmation of a late middle Pleistocene age for the Omo Kibish 1 cranium by direct uranium-series dating. J Hum Evol 2012; 63:704-10. [PMID: 22959819 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2012] [Revised: 07/12/2012] [Accepted: 07/14/2012] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
While it is generally accepted that modern humans evolved in Africa, the specific physical evidence for that origin remains disputed. The modern-looking Omo 1 skeleton, discovered in the Kibish region of Ethiopia in 1967, was controversially dated at ~130 ka (thousands of years ago) by U-series dating on associated Mollusca, and it was not until 2005 that Ar-Ar dating on associated feldspar crystals in pumice clasts provided evidence for an even older age of ~195 ka. However, questions continue to be raised about the age and stratigraphic position of this crucial fossil specimen. Here we present direct U-series determinations on the Omo 1 cranium. In spite of significant methodological complications, which are discussed in detail, the results indicate that the human remains do not belong to a later intrusive burial and are the earliest representative of anatomically modern humans. Given the more archaic morphology shown by the apparently contemporaneous Omo 2 calvaria, we suggest that direct U-series dating is applied to this fossil as well, to confirm its age in relation to Omo 1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Aubert
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.
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29
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Trinkaus E. Brief communication: The human humerus from the Broken Hill Mine, Kabwe, Zambia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2012; 149:312-7. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2012] [Accepted: 06/20/2012] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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30
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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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31
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Parr WCH, Chatterjee HJ, Soligo C. Inter- and intra-specific scaling of articular surface areas in the hominoid talus. J Anat 2011; 218:386-401. [PMID: 21323919 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01347.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The morphology of postcranial articular surfaces is expected to reflect their weight-bearing properties, as well as the stability and mobility of the articulations to which they contribute. Previous studies have mainly confirmed earlier predictions of isometric scaling between articular surface areas and body mass; the exception to this is 'male-type', convex articular surface areas, which may scale allometrically due to differences in locomotor strategies within the analysed samples. In the present study, we used new surface scanning technology to quantify more accurately articular surface areas and to test those predictions within the talus of hominoid primates, including modern humans. Our results, contrary to predictions, suggest that there are no generalised rules of articular scaling within the talus of hominoids. Instead, we suggest that articular scaling patterns are highly context-specific, depending on the role of each articulation during locomotion, as well as taxon- and sex-specific differences in locomotion and ontogenetic growth trajectories within any given sample. While this may prove problematic for inferring body mass based on articular surface area, it also offers new opportunities of gaining substantial insights into the locomotor patterns of extinct species.
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Affiliation(s)
- William C H Parr
- Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Division of Biosciences, University College London, London, UK.
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32
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Abstract
The image that best expresses Darwin's thinking is the tree of life. However, Darwin's human evolutionary tree lacked almost everything because only the Neanderthals were known at the time and they were considered one extreme expression of our own species. Darwin believed that the root of the human tree was very deep and in Africa. It was not until 1962 that the root was shown to be much more recent in time and definitively in Africa. On the other hand, some neo-Darwinians believed that our family tree was not a tree, because there were no branches, but, rather, a straight stem. The recent years have witnessed spectacular discoveries in Africa that take us close to the origin of the human tree and in Spain at Atapuerca that help us better understand the origin of the Neanderthals as well as our own species. The final form of the tree, and the number of branches, remains an object of passionate debate.
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33
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Out of Africa: modern human origins special feature: middle and later Pleistocene hominins in Africa and Southwest Asia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2009; 106:16046-50. [PMID: 19581595 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0903930106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Approximately 700,000 years ago, Homo erectus in Africa was giving way to populations with larger brains accompanied by structural adjustments to the vault, cranial base, and face. Such early Middle Pleistocene hominins were not anatomically modern. Their skulls display strong supraorbital tori above projecting faces, flattened frontals, and less parietal expansion than is the case for Homo sapiens. Postcranial remains seem also to have archaic features. Subsequently, some groups evolved advanced skeletal morphology, and by ca. 200,000 years ago, individuals more similar to recent humans are present in the African record. These fossils are associated with Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages and, in some cases, Acheulean tools. Crania from Herto in Ethiopia carry defleshing cutmarks and superficial scoring that may be indicative of mortuary practices. Despite these signs of behavioral innovation, neither the Herto hominins, nor others from Late Pleistocene sites such as Klasies River in southern Africa and Skhūl/Qafzeh in Israel, can be matched in living populations. Skulls are quite robust, and it is only after approximately 35,000 years ago that people with more gracile, fully modern morphology make their appearance. Not surprisingly, many questions concerning this evolutionary history have been raised. Attention has centered on systematics of the mid-Pleistocene hominins, their paleobiology, and the timing of dispersals that spread H. sapiens out of Africa and across the Old World. In this report, I discuss structural changes characterizing the skulls from different time periods, possible regional differences in morphology, and the bearing of this evidence on recognizing distinct species.
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34
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Fleagle JG, Assefa Z, Brown FH, Shea JJ. Paleoanthropology of the Kibish Formation, southern Ethiopia: Introduction. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:360-5. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Voisin JL. The Omo I hominin clavicle: archaic or modern? J Hum Evol 2008; 55:438-43. [PMID: 18692220 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2007] [Accepted: 05/15/2008] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Assessment of clavicular curvatures projected onto two perpendicular planes to decompose the three dimensional shape into cranial and dorsal primary curvatures has shown that two morphological groups of clavicle exist within the genus Homo. The first one includes all species from Homo habilis to Neandertals, while the second includes only Upper Paleolithic remains and more recent modern humans. These morphological differences are associated with different shoulder architectures. The morphology of the Omo I left clavicle is sufficiently complete to compare its curvatures to other clavicles of several species of Homo. Its overall morphology, assessed by its curvatures, is similar to that of Upper Paleolithic remains and modern humans, confirming the conclusions of previous descriptions of the Omo I remains in general and of its clavicles in particular.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Luc Voisin
- USM 103 and UMR 5198 du CNRS, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France.
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Pearson OM, Fleagle JG, Grine FE, Royer DF. Further new hominin fossils from the Kibish Formation, southwestern Ethiopia. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:444-7. [PMID: 18691739 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2007] [Accepted: 05/15/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
In addition to the new fragments of the Omo I skeleton, renewed fieldwork in the Kibish Formation along the lower reaches of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia has yielded new hominin finds from the Kibish Formation. The new finds include four heavily mineralized specimens: a partial left tibia and a fragment of a distal fibular diaphysis from Awoke's Hominid Site (AHS), a parietal fragment, and a portion of a juvenile occipital bone. The AHS tibia and fibula derive from Member I and are contemporaneous with Omo I and II. The other specimens derive from Chad's Hominid Site (CHS), and derive from either Member III or IV, which constrains their age between approximately 8.6 and approximately 104 ka.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osbjorn M Pearson
- Department of Anthropology, MSC 01-1040, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
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Brown FH, Fuller CR. Stratigraphy and tephra of the Kibish Formation, southwestern Ethiopia. J Hum Evol 2008; 55:366-403. [PMID: 18692219 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2007] [Accepted: 05/15/2008] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The Kibish Formation in southwestern Ethiopia, with an aggregate thickness of approximately 105 m, consists of lacustrine, marginal lacustrine, and deltaic deposits. It is divided into four members numbered I to IV on the basis of erosion surfaces (disconformities) between the strata of each member. It overlies the Mursi and Nkalabong formations, the latter of which is here shown to correlate with the Shungura Formation. Tephra layers in each member allow for secure correlation between geographically separated sections on the basis of the composition of their volcanic glass. Members I, III, and IV of the Kibish Formation appear to have been deposited at the same times as sapropels S7 (197 ka), S4 (104 ka), and S1 (8 ka) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, respectively. We correlate the KHS Tuff of the Kibish Formation with a >154-kyr-old unnamed tuff in the Konso Formation. Tephra in Member IV may derive from Mount Wenchi, a volcano situated on the divide between the Omo and Blue Nile drainage basins. Thin-bedded sedimentary layers probably represent annual deposition reflecting rapid sedimentation (approximately 30 m/kyr) of parts of the formation. This conclusion is supported by variation in paleomagnetic inclination through a sequence of these layers at KHS. Two fossils of early Homo sapiens (Omo I and Omo II) derive from Member I. Their stratigraphic placement is confirmed by analysis of the KHS Tuff in the lower part of Member II at both fossil sites. The KHS Tuff lies above a disconformity, which itself lies above the fossils at both sites. (40)Ar/(39)Ar dates provide an estimated age of approximately 195 kyr for these fossils. Omo III, a third fossil H. sapiens, probably also derives from Member I of the Kibish Formation and is of similar age. Hominin fossils from AHS, a new site, also derive from Member I. Hominin fossils from CHS can only be placed between 104 ka and 10 ka, the H. sapiens specimen from JHS is most likely 9-13 kyr in age, and a partial skeleton of H. sapiens from Pelvic Corner is most likely approximately 6.6 kyr in age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francis H Brown
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, 135 South 1460 East, Rm 209, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0112, USA.
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A re-examination of a human femur found at the Blind River Site, East London, South Africa: Its age, morphology, and breakage pattern. ANTHROPOLOGICAL REVIEW 2008. [DOI: 10.2478/v10044-008-0009-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A re-examination of a human femur found at the Blind River Site, East London, South Africa: Its age, morphology, and breakage patternModern human femoral features might have appeared in the early Middle Stone Age (156 ka to 20 ka) in South Africa, as demonstrated by the recent re-examination of a human femur fossil found at the Blind River Site, East London in the 1930s, if new dating results hold. Two optically stimulated luminescence dates from the relocated original Blind River shallow marine/estuarine deposits that contained the femur gave almost identical ages of ~120 ka, corresponding to the early part of the Last Interglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 5). Overall, the slender headless femur is of modern human form. The distal epiphysis bears some typical squatting features, including a newly recognized squatting facet on the anterior wall of the intercondylar fossa. With the typical V-shaped and oblique fracture pattern left by the missing head, the Blind River femur was most likely modified through human activity. But this style is not a cultural trait found in recent South African people. Further study is needed to place this specimen in its due context in the course of human evolution.
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