1
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Gosling WD, Scerri EML, Kaboth-Bahr S. The climate and vegetation backdrop to hominin evolution in Africa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200483. [PMID: 35249389 PMCID: PMC8899624 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The most profound shift in the African hydroclimate of the last 1 million years occurred around 300 thousand years (ka) ago. This change in African hydroclimate is manifest as an east-west change in moisture balance that cannot be fully explained through linkages to high latitude climate systems. The east-west shift is, instead, probably driven by a shift in the tropical Walker Circulation related to sea surface temperature change driven by orbital forcing. Comparing records of past vegetation change, and hominin evolution and development, with this breakpoint in the climate system is challenging owing to the paucity of study sites available and uncertainties regarding the dating of records. Notwithstanding these uncertainties we find that, broadly speaking, both vegetation and hominins change around 300 ka. The vegetative backdrop suggests that relative abundance of vegetative resources shifted from western to eastern Africa, although resources would have persisted across the continent. The climatic and vegetation changes probably provided challenges for hominins and are broadly coincident with the appearance of Homo sapiens (ca 315 ka) and the emergence of Middle Stone Age technology. The concomitant changes in climate, vegetation and hominin evolution suggest that these factors are closely intertwined. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William D Gosling
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Eleanor M L Scerri
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.,Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Kun Á. Is there still evolution in the human population? Biol Futur 2022; 73:359-374. [PMID: 36592324 PMCID: PMC9806833 DOI: 10.1007/s42977-022-00146-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
It is often claimed that humanity has stopped evolving because modern medicine erased all selection on survival. Even if that would be true, and it is not, there would be other mechanisms of evolution which could still led to changes in allelic frequencies. Here I show, by applying basic evolutionary genetics knowledge, that we expect humanity to evolve. The results from genome sequencing projects have repeatedly affirmed that there are still recent signs of selection in our genomes. I give some examples of such adaptation. Then I briefly discuss what our evolutionary future has in store for us.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ádám Kun
- grid.5591.80000 0001 2294 6276Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology and Theoretical Biology, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary ,Parmenides Center for the Conceptual Foundations of Science, Pöcking, Germany ,grid.481817.3Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary ,grid.5018.c0000 0001 2149 4407MTA-ELTE Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary ,grid.5018.c0000 0001 2149 4407MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Kuhn S, Moncel MH, Weinstein-Evron M, Zaidner Y. Introduction to special issue The Lower to Middle Paleolithic boundaries: Evolutionary threshold or continuum? J Hum Evol 2021; 159:103054. [PMID: 34418756 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Steven Kuhn
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0030, USA.
| | - Marie-Hélène Moncel
- UMR 7194 CNRS e Département Hommes et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Mina Weinstein-Evron
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba-Hushi Avenue, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Yossi Zaidner
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Grün R, Pike A, McDermott F, Eggins S, Mortimer G, Aubert M, Kinsley L, Joannes-Boyau R, Rumsey M, Denys C, Brink J, Clark T, Stringer C. Dating the skull from Broken Hill, Zambia, and its position in human evolution. Nature 2020; 580:372-375. [PMID: 32296179 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2165-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 01/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
The cranium from Broken Hill (Kabwe) was recovered from cave deposits in 1921, during metal ore mining in what is now Zambia1. It is one of the best-preserved skulls of a fossil hominin, and was initially designated as the type specimen of Homo rhodesiensis, but recently it has often been included in the taxon Homo heidelbergensis2-4. However, the original site has since been completely quarried away, and-although the cranium is often estimated to be around 500 thousand years old5-7-its unsystematic recovery impedes its accurate dating and placement in human evolution. Here we carried out analyses directly on the skull and found a best age estimate of 299 ± 25 thousand years (mean ± 2σ). The result suggests that later Middle Pleistocene Africa contained multiple contemporaneous hominin lineages (that is, Homo sapiens8,9, H. heidelbergensis/H. rhodesiensis and Homo naledi10,11), similar to Eurasia, where Homo neanderthalensis, the Denisovans, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonensis and perhaps also Homo heidelbergensis and Homo erectus12 were found contemporaneously. The age estimate also raises further questions about the mode of evolution of H. sapiens in Africa and whether H. heidelbergensis/H. rhodesiensis was a direct ancestor of our species13,14.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rainer Grün
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia. .,Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
| | - Alistair Pike
- Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Frank McDermott
- UCD School of Earth Sciences, University College Dublin,, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Stephen Eggins
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Graham Mortimer
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Maxime Aubert
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.,Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution & Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
| | - Lesley Kinsley
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.,Geoscience, Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Michael Rumsey
- Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Christiane Denys
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France
| | - James Brink
- Florisbad Quaternary Research, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa.,Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| | - Tara Clark
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia.,School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.,School of Earth, Atmospheric & Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Chris Stringer
- CHER, Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Šešelj M, Konigsberg LW. A different interpretation of dental development stages in Xujiayao 1 Middle to Late Pleistocene Homo. J Hum Evol 2020; 148:102745. [PMID: 32216959 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2019] [Revised: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maja Šešelj
- Department of Anthropology, Bryn Mawr College, 101 N Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, USA.
| | - Lyle W Konigsberg
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 607 S Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
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.
Collapse
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.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Lamb HF, Bates CR, Bryant CL, Davies SJ, Huws DG, Marshall MH, Roberts HM, Toland H. 150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa. Sci Rep 2018; 8:1077. [PMID: 29348464 PMCID: PMC5773494 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-19601-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2017] [Accepted: 01/02/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Climatic change is widely acknowledged to have played a role in the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, but the timing is contentious. Genetic evidence links dispersal to climatic change ~60,000 years ago, despite increasing evidence for earlier modern human presence in Asia. We report a deep seismic and near-continuous core record of the last 150,000 years from Lake Tana, Ethiopia, close to early modern human fossil sites and to postulated dispersal routes. The record shows varied climate towards the end of the penultimate glacial, followed by an abrupt change to relatively stable moist climate during the last interglacial. These conditions could have favoured selection for behavioural versatility, population growth and range expansion, supporting models of early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Henry F Lamb
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK.
| | - C Richard Bates
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Irvine Building, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL, UK
| | - Charlotte L Bryant
- NERC Radiocarbon Facility, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, UK
| | - Sarah J Davies
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK
| | - Dei G Huws
- School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, LL59 5AB, UK
| | - Michael H Marshall
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK.,West Park School, West Road, Spondon, Derby, DE21 7BT, UK
| | - Helen M Roberts
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK
| | - Harry Toland
- Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Aubert M, Brumm A, Taçon PSC. The Timing and Nature of Human Colonization of Southeast Asia in the Late Pleistocene. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/694414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
10
|
Sanchez-Mazas A, Černý V, Di D, Buhler S, Podgorná E, Chevallier E, Brunet L, Weber S, Kervaire B, Testi M, Andreani M, Tiercy JM, Villard J, Nunes JM. The HLA-B landscape of Africa: Signatures of pathogen-driven selection and molecular identification of candidate alleles to malaria protection. Mol Ecol 2017; 26:6238-6252. [PMID: 28950417 DOI: 10.1111/mec.14366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2016] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes play a key role in the immune response to infectious diseases, some of which are highly prevalent in specific environments, like malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Former case-control studies showed that one particular HLA-B allele, B*53, was associated with malaria protection in Gambia, but this hypothesis was not tested so far within a population genetics framework. In this study, our objective was to assess whether pathogen-driven selection associated with malaria contributed to shape the HLA-B genetic landscape of Africa. To that aim, we first typed the HLA-A and -B loci in 484 individuals from 11 populations living in different environments across the Sahel, and we analysed these data together with those available for 29 other populations using several approaches including linear modelling on various genetic, geographic and environmental parameters. In addition to relevant signatures of populations' demography and migrations history in the genetic differentiation patterns of both HLA-A and -B loci, we found that the frequencies of three HLA alleles, B*53, B*78 and A*74, were significantly associated with Plasmodium falciparum malaria prevalence, suggesting their increase through pathogen-driven selection in malaria-endemic environments. The two HLA-B alleles were further identified, by high-throughput sequencing, as B*53:01:01 (in putative linkage disequilibrium with one HLA-C allele, C*04:01:01:01) and B*78:01 in all but one individuals tested, making them appropriate candidates to malaria protection. These results highlight the role of environmental factors in the evolution of the HLA polymorphism and open key perspectives for functional studies focusing on HLA peptide-binding properties.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alicia Sanchez-Mazas
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Viktor Černý
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Da Di
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Stéphane Buhler
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Eliška Podgorná
- Department of the Archaeology of Landscape and Archaeobiology, Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Elodie Chevallier
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Lydie Brunet
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Stephan Weber
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Barbara Kervaire
- Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Manuela Testi
- Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Transplant Biology, IME Foundation, Policlinic of the University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Andreani
- Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Transplant Biology, IME Foundation, Policlinic of the University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Jean-Marie Tiercy
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jean Villard
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - José Manuel Nunes
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
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'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chris Stringer
- Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
U-series dating and classification of the Apidima 2 hominin from Mani Peninsula, Southern Greece. J Hum Evol 2017; 109:22-29. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2015] [Revised: 04/21/2017] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
|
13
|
Berger LR, Hawks J, Dirks PHGM, Elliott M, Roberts EM. Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa. eLife 2017; 6:e24234. [PMID: 28483041 PMCID: PMC5423770 DOI: 10.7554/elife.24234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 04/19/2017] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
New discoveries and dating of fossil remains from the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, have strong implications for our understanding of Pleistocene human evolution in Africa. Direct dating of Homo naledi fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber (Berger et al., 2015) shows that they were deposited between about 236 ka and 335 ka (Dirks et al., 2017), placing H. naledi in the later Middle Pleistocene. Hawks and colleagues (Hawks et al., 2017) report the discovery of a second chamber within the Rising Star system (Dirks et al., 2015) that contains H. naledi remains. Previously, only large-brained modern humans or their close relatives had been demonstrated to exist at this late time in Africa, but the fossil evidence for any hominins in subequatorial Africa was very sparse. It is now evident that a diversity of hominin lineages existed in this region, with some divergent lineages contributing DNA to living humans and at least H. naledi representing a survivor from the earliest stages of diversification within Homo. The existence of a diverse array of hominins in subequatorial comports with our present knowledge of diversity across other savanna-adapted species, as well as with palaeoclimate and paleoenvironmental data. H. naledi casts the fossil and archaeological records into a new light, as we cannot exclude that this lineage was responsible for the production of Acheulean or Middle Stone Age tool industries.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lee R Berger
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - John Hawks
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States
| | - Paul HGM Dirks
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Geosciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
| | - Marina Elliott
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Eric M Roberts
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Geosciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
de-la-Rúa C, Altuna J, Hervella M, Kinsley L, Grün R. Direct U-series analysis of the Lezetxiki humerus reveals a Middle Pleistocene age for human remains in the Basque Country (northern Iberia). J Hum Evol 2016; 93:109-19. [PMID: 27086059 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2015] [Revised: 11/20/2015] [Accepted: 02/06/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
In 1964, a human humerus was found in a sedimentary deposit in Lezetxiki Cave (Basque Country, northern Iberia). The first studies on the stratigraphy, associated mammal faunal remains and lithic implements placed the deposits containing the humerus into the Riss glacial stage. Direct chronometric evidence has so far been missing, and the previous chronostratigraphic framework and faunal dating gave inconsistent results. Here we report laser ablation U-series analyses on the humerus yielding a minimum age of 164 ± 9 ka, corresponding to MIS 6. This is the only direct dating analysis of the Lezetxiki humerus and confirms a Middle Pleistocene age for this hominin fossil. Morphometric analyses suggest that the Lezetxiki humerus has close affinities to other Middle Pleistocene archaic hominins, such as those from La Sima de los Huesos at Atapuerca. This emphasizes the significance of the Lezetxiki fossil within the populations that predate the Neanderthals in south-western Europe. It is thus an important key fossil for the understanding of human evolution in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene, a time period when a great morphological diversity is observed but whose phylogenetic meaning is not yet fully understood.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Concepción de-la-Rúa
- Dept. of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain.
| | - Jesús Altuna
- Centro de Conservación e Investigación de los Materiales Arqueológicos y Paleontológicos de Gipuzkoa, Donostia, Spain
| | - Monserrat Hervella
- Dept. of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain
| | - Leslie Kinsley
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Rainer Grün
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
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.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Daniel Schmitt
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
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]
|
17
|
Tassi F, Ghirotto S, Mezzavilla M, Vilaça ST, De Santi L, Barbujani G. Early modern human dispersal from Africa: genomic evidence for multiple waves of migration. INVESTIGATIVE GENETICS 2015; 6:13. [PMID: 26550467 PMCID: PMC4636834 DOI: 10.1186/s13323-015-0030-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2015] [Accepted: 10/27/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Background Anthropological and genetic data agree in indicating the African continent as the main place of origin for anatomically modern humans. However, it is unclear whether early modern humans left Africa through a single, major process, dispersing simultaneously over Asia and Europe, or in two main waves, first through the Arab Peninsula into southern Asia and Oceania, and later through a northern route crossing the Levant. Results Here, we show that accurate genomic estimates of the divergence times between European and African populations are more recent than those between Australo-Melanesia and Africa and incompatible with the effects of a single dispersal. This difference cannot possibly be accounted for by the effects of either hybridization with archaic human forms in Australo-Melanesia or back migration from Europe into Africa. Furthermore, in several populations of Asia we found evidence for relatively recent genetic admixture events, which could have obscured the signatures of the earliest processes. Conclusions We conclude that the hypothesis of a single major human dispersal from Africa appears hardly compatible with the observed historical and geographical patterns of genome diversity and that Australo-Melanesian populations seem still to retain a genomic signature of a more ancient divergence from Africa Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13323-015-0030-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Tassi
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Silvia Ghirotto
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Massimo Mezzavilla
- Institute for Maternal and Child Health-IRCCS "BurloGarofolo", University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Sibelle Torres Vilaça
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.,Present Address: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lisa De Santi
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Guido Barbujani
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Abstract
BACKGROUND Diagnosing Homo sapiens is a critical question in the study of human evolution. Although what constitutes living members of our own species is straightforward, in the fossil record this is still a matter of much debate. The issue is complicated by questions of species diagnoses and ideas about the mode by which a new species is born, by the arguments surrounding the behavioural and cognitive separateness of the species, by the increasing appreciation of variation in the early African H. sapiens record and by new DNA evidence of hybridization with extinct species. METHODS AND RESULTS This study synthesizes thinking on the fossils, archaeology and underlying evolutionary models of the last several decades with recent DNA results from both H. sapiens and fossil species. CONCLUSION It is concluded that, although it may not be possible or even desirable to cleanly partition out a homogenous morphological description of recent H. sapiens in the fossil record, there are key, distinguishing morphological traits in the cranium, dentition and pelvis that can be usefully employed to diagnose the H. sapiens lineage. Increasing advances in retrieving and understanding relevant genetic data provide a complementary and perhaps potentially even more fruitful means of characterizing the differences between H. sapiens and its close relatives.
Collapse
|
19
|
Metric and geometric morphometric analysis of new hominin fossils from Maba (Guangdong, China). J Hum Evol 2014; 74:1-20. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2012] [Revised: 02/26/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2014] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
|
20
|
Villa P, Roebroeks W. Neandertal demise: an archaeological analysis of the modern human superiority complex. PLoS One 2014; 9:e96424. [PMID: 24789039 PMCID: PMC4005592 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Neandertals are the best-studied of all extinct hominins, with a rich fossil record sampling hundreds of individuals, roughly dating from between 350,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their distinct fossil remains have been retrieved from Portugal in the west to the Altai area in central Asia in the east and from below the waters of the North Sea in the north to a series of caves in Israel in the south. Having thrived in Eurasia for more than 300,000 years, Neandertals vanished from the record around 40,000 years ago, when modern humans entered Europe. Modern humans are usually seen as superior in a wide range of domains, including weaponry and subsistence strategies, which would have led to the demise of Neandertals. This systematic review of the archaeological records of Neandertals and their modern human contemporaries finds no support for such interpretations, as the Neandertal archaeological record is not different enough to explain the demise in terms of inferiority in archaeologically visible domains. Instead, current genetic data suggest that complex processes of interbreeding and assimilation may have been responsible for the disappearance of the specific Neandertal morphology from the fossil record.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paola Villa
- University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
- Unité Mixte de Recherche 5199, De la Préhistoire à l’Actuel, Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux 1, Talence, France
- School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- * E-mail:
| | - Wil Roebroeks
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
|