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Richards GD, Jabbour RS, Guipert G, Defleur A. Early Neanderthal mandibular remains from Baume Moula-Guercy (Soyons, Ardèche). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2024. [PMID: 39132848 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 07/10/2024] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 08/13/2024]
Abstract
We provide an ontogenetically-based comparative description of mandibular remains from Last Interglacial deposits (MIS 5e) at Baume Moula-Guercy and examine their affinities to European and Middle Eastern Middle-to-Late Pleistocene (≈MIS 14-MIS 1) Homo. Description of the M-G2-419 right partial mandibular corpus with M1-3 (15-16.0 years ±0.5 years) and mandibular fragments M-F4-77 and M-S-TNN1 is with reference to original fossils, casts, CT scans, literature descriptions, and virtual reconstructions. Our comparative sample is ontogenetically based and divided into a Preneanderthal-Neanderthal group and a Homo sapiens group. These groups are subdivided into (1) Preneanderthals (≈MIS 14-9), Early Neanderthals (MIS 7-5e), and Late Neanderthals (MIS 5d-3), and (2) Middle (MIS 5) and Upper (MIS 3-Pre-MIS 1) Paleolithic and recent H. sapiens. Standard techniques were employed for developmental age and sex determinations and measurements. The M-G2-419 mandible possesses corpus features that link it most closely with the Sima de los Huesos Preneanderthal and Early Neanderthal groups. These include mental foramen position, number, and height on the corpus, anterior marginal tubercle position, and mylohyoid line orientation. Metrically, the M-G2-419 mandibular corpus is small relative to adults in all groups, but the thickness/height relationship is like the adult condition. The thickness of the corpus is more like Neanderthal children than adolescents. Molar crown features suggest affinities with the Preneanderthal-Neanderthal group. The Moula-Guercy mandibles possess a combination of Neanderthal-associated features that provides insights into MIS 7-5e paleodeme variation and the timing of appearance of MIS 5d-3 Neanderthal facial features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gary D Richards
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, A. A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Rebecca S Jabbour
- Department of Biology, Saint Mary's College of California, Moraga, California, USA
| | - Gaspard Guipert
- Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Fondation Albert Ier Prince de Monaco, Paris, France
| | - Alban Defleur
- IPHES Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana I Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain
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Quam R, Martínez I, Rak Y, Hylander B, Pantoja A, Lorenzo C, Conde-Valverde M, Keeling B, Ortega Martínez MC, Arsuaga JL. The Neandertal nature of the Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos mandibles. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2024; 307:2343-2393. [PMID: 36998196 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25190] [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: 09/20/2022] [Revised: 01/22/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023]
Abstract
The recovery of additional mandibular fossils from the Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos (SH) site provides new insights into the evolutionary significance of this sample. In particular, morphological descriptions of the new adult specimens are provided, along with standardized metric data and phylogenetically relevant morphological features for the expanded adult sample. The new and more complete specimens extend the known range of variation in the Atapuerca (SH) mandibles in some metric and morphological details. In other aspects, the addition of new specimens has made it possible to confirm previous observations based on more limited evidence. Pairwise comparisons of individual metric variables revealed the only significant difference between the Atapuerca (SH) hominins and Neandertals was a more vertical symphysis in the latter. Similarly, principal components analysis of size-adjusted variables showed a strong similarity between the Atapuerca (SH) hominins and Neandertals. Morphologically, the Atapuerca (SH) mandibles show nearly the full complement of Neandertal-derived features. Nevertheless, the Neandertals differ from the Atapuerca (SH) mandibles in showing a high frequency of the H/O mandibular foramen, a truncated, thinned and inverted gonial margin, a high placement of the mylohyoid line at the level of the M3, a more vertical symphysis and somewhat more pronounced expression of the chin structures. Size-related morphological variation in the SH hominins includes larger retromolar spaces, more posterior placement of the lateral corpus structures, and stronger markings associated with the muscles of mastication in larger specimens. However, phylogenetically relevant features in the SH sample are fairly stable and do not vary with the overall size of the mandible. Direct comparison of the enlarged mandibular sample from Atapuerca (SH) with the Mauer mandible, the type specimen of H. heidelbergensis, reveals important differences from the SH hominins, and there is no morphological counterpart of Mauer within the SH sample, suggesting the SH fossils should not be assigned to this taxon. The Atapuerca (SH) mandibles show a greater number of derived Neandertal features, particularly those related to midfacial prognathism and in the configuration of the superior ramus, than other European middle Pleistocene specimens. This suggests that more than one evolutionary lineage co-existed in the middle Pleistocene, and, broadly speaking, it appears possible to separate the European middle Pleistocene mandibular remains into two distinct groupings. One group shows a suite of derived Neandertal features and includes specimens from the sites of Atapuerca (SH), Payre, l'Aubesier and Ehringsdorf. The other group includes specimens that generally lack derived Neandertal features and includes the mandibles from the sites of Mauer, Mala Balanica, Montmaurin and (probably) Visogliano. The two published Arago mandibles differ strongly from one another, with Arago 2 probably belonging to this former group, and Neandertal affinities being more difficult to identify in Arago 13. Outside of the SH sample, derived Neandertal features in the mandible only become more common during the second half of the middle Pleistocene. Acceptance of a cladogenetic pattern of evolution during the European middle Pleistocene has the potential to reconcile the predictions of the accretion model and the two phases model for the appearance of Neandertal morphology. The precise taxonomic classification of the SH hominins must contemplate features from the dentition, cranium, mandible and postcranial skeleton, all of which are preserved at the SH site. Nevertheless, the origin of the Neandertal clade may be tied to a speciation event reflected in the appearance of a suite of derived Neandertal features in the face, dentition and mandible, all of which are present in the Atapuerca (SH) hominins. This same suite of features also provides a useful anatomical basis to include other European middle Pleistocene mandibles and crania within the Neandertal clade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rolf Quam
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, New York, USA
- Centro de Investigación UCM-ISCIII sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA
- Universidad de Alcalá. Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales-Universidad de Alcalá), Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ignacio Martínez
- Universidad de Alcalá. Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales-Universidad de Alcalá), Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Yoel Rak
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Bill Hylander
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Biological Sciences Building, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Ana Pantoja
- Centro de Investigación UCM-ISCIII sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Carlos Lorenzo
- Àrea de Prehistòria, Departamento d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Mercedes Conde-Valverde
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, New York, USA
- Universidad de Alcalá. Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales-Universidad de Alcalá), Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Brian Keeling
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, New York, USA
| | | | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Centro de Investigación UCM-ISCIII sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, Madrid, Spain
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Riga A, Profico A, Mori T, Frittitta R, Nava A, Mancini L, Dreossi D, Radovčić D, Rice H, Bondioli L, Marchi D. The Middle Pleistocene human metatarsal from Sedia del Diavolo (Rome, Italy). Sci Rep 2024; 14:6024. [PMID: 38472259 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55045-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
The peopling of Europe during the Middle Pleistocene is a debated topic among paleoanthropologists. Some authors suggest the coexistence of multiple human lineages in this period, while others propose a single evolving lineage from Homo heidelbergensis to Homo neanderthalensis. The recent reassessment of the stratigraphy at the Sedia del Diavolo (SdD) site (Latium, Italy), now dated to the beginning of marine isotope stage (MIS) 8, calls for a revision of the human fossils from the site. In this paper, we present the morphometric, biomechanical and palaeopathological study of the second right metatarsal SdD2, to both re-evaluate its taxonomical affinities and possibly determine the levels of physical activity experienced by the individual during lifetime. Results demonstrate the persistence of archaic features in SdD2 suggesting new insights into the technology and hunting strategies adopted by Homo between MIS 9 and MIS 8.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Riga
- Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | | | - Tommaso Mori
- Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | | | - Alessia Nava
- Department of Odontostomatological and Maxillofacial Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Lucia Mancini
- ZAG-Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, Ljubliana, Slovenia
| | - Diego Dreossi
- Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.P.A., Basovizza, Trieste, Italy
| | - Davorka Radovčić
- Department of Geology and Paleontology, Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Hannah Rice
- Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
| | - Luca Bondioli
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Service of Bioarchaeology, Museum of Civilizations, Rome, Italy
| | - Damiano Marchi
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Centre for the Exploration of Deep Human Journey, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Keeling BA, Quam R, Martínez I, Arsuaga JL, Maroto J. Reassessment of the human mandible from Banyoles (Girona, Spain). J Hum Evol 2023; 174:103291. [PMID: 36493597 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Revised: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Since the discovery of a human mandible in 1887 near the present-day city of Banyoles, northeastern Spain, researchers have generally emphasized its archaic features, including the lack of chin structures, and suggested affinities with the Neandertals or European Middle Pleistocene (Chibanian) specimens. Uranium-series and electron spin resonance dating suggest the mandible dates to the Late Pleistocene (Tarantian), approximately ca. 45-66 ka. In this study, we reassessed the taxonomic affinities of the Banyoles mandible by comparing it to samples of Middle Pleistocene fossils from Africa and Europe, Neandertals, Early and Upper Paleolithic modern humans, and recent modern humans. We evaluated the frequencies and expressions of morphological features and performed a three-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis on a virtual reconstruction of Banyoles to capture overall mandibular shape. Our results revealed no derived Neandertal morphological features in Banyoles. While a principal component analysis based on Euclidean distances from the first two principal components clearly grouped Banyoles with both fossil and recent Homo sapiens individuals, an analysis of the Procrustes residuals demonstrated that Banyoles did not fit into any of the comparative groups. The lack of Neandertal features in Banyoles is surprising considering its Late Pleistocene age. A consideration of the Middle Pleistocene fossil record in Europe and southwest Asia suggests that Banyoles is unlikely to represent a late-surviving Middle Pleistocene population. The lack of chin structures also complicates an assignment to H. sapiens, although early fossil H. sapiens do show somewhat variable development of the chin structures. Thus, Banyoles represents a non-Neandertal Late Pleistocene European individual and highlights the continuing signal of diversity in the hominin fossil record. The present situation makes Banyoles a prime candidate for ancient DNA or proteomic analyses, which may shed additional light on its taxonomic affinities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian A Keeling
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, SUNY, New York, USA.
| | - Rolf Quam
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, SUNY, New York, USA; Centro UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain; Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA; Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales-Universidad de Alcalá), Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ignacio Martínez
- Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales-Universidad de Alcalá), Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación Francisco Javier Muñiz, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Calle Paraguay 2155, Primer piso, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, 1121, Argentina
| | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Centro UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Julià Maroto
- Grup d'Arqueologia i Prehistòria, Universitat de Girona, pl. Ferrater Mora, 1, 17071 Girona, Spain
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Mayoral E, Duveau J, Santos A, Ramírez AR, Morales JA, Díaz-Delgado R, Rivera-Silva J, Gómez-Olivencia A, Díaz-Martínez I. New dating of the Matalascañas footprints provides new evidence of the Middle Pleistocene (MIS 9-8) hominin paleoecology in southern Europe. Sci Rep 2022; 12:17505. [PMID: 36261474 PMCID: PMC9581921 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22524-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Hominin footprints were recently discovered at Matalascañas (Huelva; South of Iberian Peninsula). They were dated thanks to a previous study in deposits of the Asperillo cliff to 106 ± 19 ka, Upper Pleistocene, making Neandertals the most likely track-makers. In this paper, we report new Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating that places the hominin footprints surface in the range of 295.8 ± 17 ka (MIS 9-MIS 8 transition, Middle Pleistocene). This new age implies that the possible track-makers are individuals more likely from the Neandertal evolutionary lineage. Regardless of the taxon attributed to the Matalascañas footprints, they supplement the existing partial fossil record for the European Middle Pleistocene Hominins being notably the first palaeoanthropological evidence (hominin skeleton or footprints) from the MIS 9 and MIS 8 transition discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, a moment of climatic evolution from warm to cool. Thus, the Matalascañas footprints represent a crucial record for understanding human occupations in Europe in the Pleistocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo Mayoral
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Campus de El Carmen, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain.
- CCTH - Centro de Investigación Científico Tecnológico, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain.
| | - Jérémy Duveau
- DFG Center of Advanced Studies 'Words, Bones, Genes, Tools', Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
- UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de L'Homme Préhistorique, CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Université Perpignan Via Domitia, Paris, France
| | - Ana Santos
- Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Geología, Campus de Llamaquique, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
| | - Antonio Rodríguez Ramírez
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Campus de El Carmen, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
- CCTH - Centro de Investigación Científico Tecnológico, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Juan A Morales
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Campus de El Carmen, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
- CCTH - Centro de Investigación Científico Tecnológico, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | | | - Jorge Rivera-Silva
- Centro de Investigación, Tecnología e Innovación (CITIUS), Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Asier Gómez-Olivencia
- Dept. Geología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, UPV/EHU, Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940, Leioa, Spain
- Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Zorroagagaina 11, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación Sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos. Avda. Monforte de Lemos, 5 (Pabellón 14), 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ignacio Díaz-Martínez
- Universidad Nacional de Río Negro-IIPG, General Roca, Río Negro, Argentina
- Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología Y Geología (IIPG), CONICET, General Roca, Río Negro, Argentina
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Bergmann I, Hublin JJ, Gunz P, Freidline SE. How did modern morphology evolve in the human mandible? The relationship between static adult allometry and mandibular variability in Homo sapiens. J Hum Evol 2021; 157:103026. [PMID: 34214909 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Key to understanding human origins are early Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud, as well as from the early Late Pleistocene sites Tabun, Border Cave, Klasies River Mouth, Skhul, and Qafzeh. While their upper facial shape falls within the recent human range of variation, their mandibles display a mosaic morphology. Here we quantify how mandibular shape covaries with mandible size and how static allometry differs between Neanderthals, early H. sapiens, and modern humans from the Upper Paleolithic/Later Stone Age and Holocene (= later H. sapiens). We use 3D (semi)landmark geometric morphometric methods to visualize allometric trends and to explore how gracilization affects the expression of diagnostic shape features. Early H. sapiens were highly variable in mandible size, exhibiting a unique allometric trajectory that explains aspects of their 'archaic' appearance. At the same time, early H. sapiens share a suite of diagnostic features with later H. sapiens that are not related to mandibular sizes, such as an incipient chin and an anteroposteriorly decreasing corpus height. The mandibular morphology, often referred to as 'modern', can partly be explained by gracilization owing to size reduction. Despite distinct static allometric shape changes in each group studied, bicondylar and bigonial breadth represent important structural constraints for the expression of shape features in most Middle to Late Pleistocene hominin mandibles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inga Bergmann
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Philipp Gunz
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sarah E Freidline
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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