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Carretero JM, Rodríguez L, García-González R, Arsuaga JL. Main morphological characteristics and sexual dimorphism of hominin adult femora from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2024; 307:2575-2605. [PMID: 37794824 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
The excellent fossil record from Sima de los Huesos (SH) includes three well-known complete adult femora and several partial specimens that have not yet been published in detail. This fossil record provides an opportunity to analyze the morphology of European pre-Neandertal adult femur and its variation with different evolution patterns. Currently, there are a minimum of five adult individuals (males or females). In this study, we compiled previously published basic anatomical and biometric characteristics of SH adult femora, emphasizing the most relevant features compared to other recent and fossil hominins. The SH femora exhibited a primitive morphological pattern common to all non-Homo sapiens femora, as well as most of the Neandertal traits. Therefore, the complete Upper Pleistocene Neandertal pattern was well-established in Middle Pleistocene ancestors long before the proper Neandertals appeared. Additionally, we highlight that the SH and Neandertal femora share some morphological traits and proportions with modern humans that hold sexual significance in our species, regardless of size. Keeping this in mind, we discussed the sex determination of the complete SH specimens and re-evaluated sex allocation in two of them.
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Affiliation(s)
- José-Miguel Carretero
- Dpto. de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain
- Unidad Asociada de I+D+i al CSIC, Vidrio y Materiales del Patrimonio Cultural (VIMPAC), Burgos, Spain
| | - Laura Rodríguez
- Dpto. de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain
- Area de Antropología Física, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Universidad de León, León, Spain
| | - Rebeca García-González
- Dpto. de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain
| | - Juan-Luis Arsuaga
- Centro UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
- Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Departamento de Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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2
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Rmoutilová R, Brůžek J, Gómez-Olivencia A, Madelaine S, Couture-Veschambre C, Holliday T, Maureille B. Sex estimation of the adult Neandertal Regourdou 1 (Montignac, France): Implications for sexing human fossil remains. J Hum Evol 2024; 189:103470. [PMID: 38552260 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
Sex is a biological trait fundamental to the study of hominin fossils. Among the many questions that can be addressed are those related to taxonomy, biological variability, sexual dimorphism, paleoobstetrics, funerary selection, and paleodemography. While new methodologies such as paleogenomics or paleoproteomics can be used to determine sex, they have not been systematically applied to Pleistocene human remains due to their destructive nature. Therefore, we estimated sex from the coxal bone of the newly discovered pelvic remains of the Regourdou 1 Neandertal (Southwest France, MIS 5) based on morphological and metric data employing two methods that have been recently revised and shown to be reliable in multiple studies. Both methods calculate posterior probabilities of the estimate. The right coxal bone of Regourdou 1 was partially reconstructed providing additional traits for sex estimation. These methods were cross validated on 14 sufficiently preserved coxal bones of specimens from the Neandertal lineage. Our results show that the Regourdou 1 individual, whose postcranial skeleton is not robust, is a male, and that previous sex attributions of comparative Neandertal specimens are largely in agreement with those obtained here. Our results encourage additional morphological research of fossil hominins in order to develop a set of methods that are applicable, reliable, and reproducible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebeka Rmoutilová
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 00, Prague, Czech Republic; University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600, Pessac, France; Hrdlicka Museum of Man, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 00 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
| | - Jaroslav Brůžek
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 00, Prague, Czech Republic; University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600, Pessac, France
| | - Asier Gómez-Olivencia
- Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain; Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Centro UCM-ISCIII de Investigacion Sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Stéphane Madelaine
- University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600, Pessac, France; Musée National de Préhistoire, 1 Rue Du Musée, 24620, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac Sireuil, France
| | | | - Trenton Holliday
- Tulane University, Department of Anthropology, 101 Dinwiddie Hall, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA; Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, RSA, South Africa
| | - Bruno Maureille
- University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600, Pessac, France
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3
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Ruff CB, Wood BA. The estimation and evolution of hominin body mass. Evol Anthropol 2023; 32:223-237. [PMID: 37335778 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
Body mass is a critical variable in many hominin evolutionary studies, with implications for reconstructing relative brain size, diet, locomotion, subsistence strategy, and social organization. We review methods that have been proposed for estimating body mass from true and trace fossils, consider their applicability in different contexts, and the appropriateness of different modern reference samples. Recently developed techniques based on a wider range of modern populations hold promise for providing more accurate estimates in earlier hominins, although uncertainties remain, particularly in non-Homo taxa. When these methods are applied to almost 300 Late Miocene through Late Pleistocene specimens, the resulting body mass estimates fall within a 25-60 kg range for early non-Homo taxa, increase in early Homo to about 50-90 kg, then remain constant until the Terminal Pleistocene, when they decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher B Ruff
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Bernard A Wood
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
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4
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Chai H. On the evolution of the morphology and resilience of molar cusps in fossil hominid teeth. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 2022; 133:105357. [PMID: 35841750 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105357] [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] [Received: 04/23/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/02/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Teeth play an important role in evolutionary studies due to their good preservation and direct link to diet. The present work makes use of a previously generated database on molar teeth of fossil hominids which consists of cuspal enamel thickness dc, dentin horn angle φ and section width D, all measured on a given histological tooth section. These data are here interpreted with the aid of "fracture stress" QF = PF/D2 and geological age t, where PF is the occlusal force needed to cause cusp failure as determined from dc and φ. QF is virtually a constant in non-hominins ("apes") while monotonically increasing toward present time in hominins. These two trends intersect at t = ts = 4.5 (0.11) mya, a value similar to other divergence estimates. QF was fitted with a function f(t) which is proportional to (dc/D)2. The monotonic variation of QF and in turn dc/D with t contrasts the more complex behavior generally characterizing other physical entities of fossil hominids. The increase in dc/D in hominins promotes tooth resilience and in turn life span. Finally, it is suggested that PF provides an upper bound to the maximum bite force produced by the jaw structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Herzl Chai
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
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5
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The relative limb size of Homonaledi. J Hum Evol 2022; 170:103235. [PMID: 35994845 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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6
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Yim AD, Konigsberg LW, Hwa HL, Chang CC, Chen JY, Liu HM. Allometric scaling and growth: Evaluation and applications in subadult body mass estimation. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175:577-588. [PMID: 34002366 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Previously developed methods in subadult body mass estimation have not been tested in populations other than European-American or African-American. This study uses a contemporary Taiwanese sample to test these methods. Through evaluating their accuracy and bias, we addressed whether the allometric relationships between body mass and skeletal traits commonly used in subadult body mass estimation are conserved among different populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS Computed tomography scans of lower limbs from individuals aged 0-17 years old of both sexes were collected from National Taiwan University Hospital along with documented body weight. Polar second moment of area, distal femoral metaphyseal breadth, and maximum superior/inferior femoral head diameter were collected either directly from the scans or from reconstructed 3D models. Estimated body mass was compared with documented body mass to assess the performance of the equations. RESULTS Current methods provided good body mass estimates in Taiwanese individuals, with accuracy and bias similar to those reported in other validation studies. A tendency for increasing error with increasing age was observed for all methods. Reduced major axis regression showed the allometric relationships between different skeletal traits and body mass across different age categories can all be summarized using a common fitted line. A revised, maximum likelihood-based approach was proposed for all skeletal traits. DISCUSSION The results suggested that the allometric relationships between body mass and different skeletal traits are largely conserved among populations. The revised method provided improved applicability with strong underlying theoretical justifications, and potential for future improvements.
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Affiliation(s)
- An-Di Yim
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
| | - Lyle W Konigsberg
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
| | - Hsiao-Lin Hwa
- Department and Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Chin-Chen Chang
- Department and Graduate Institute of Forensic Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan.,Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Jo-Yu Chen
- Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Hon-Man Liu
- Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan.,Department of Medical Imaging, Fu Jen Catholic University Hospital, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
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7
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Prabhat AM, Miller CK, Prang TC, Spear J, Williams SA, DeSilva JM. Homoplasy in the evolution of modern human-like joint proportions in Australopithecus afarensis. eLife 2021; 10:65897. [PMID: 33978569 PMCID: PMC8116054 DOI: 10.7554/elife.65897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution of bipedalism and reduced reliance on arboreality in hominins resulted in larger lower limb joints relative to the joints of the upper limb. The pattern and timing of this transition, however, remains unresolved. Here, we find the limb joint proportions of Australopithecus afarensis, Homo erectus, and Homo naledi to resemble those of modern humans, whereas those of A. africanus, Australopithecus sediba, Paranthropus robustus, Paranthropus boisei, Homo habilis, and Homo floresiensis are more ape-like. The homology of limb joint proportions in A. afarensis and modern humans can only be explained by a series of evolutionary reversals irrespective of differing phylogenetic hypotheses. Thus, the independent evolution of modern human-like limb joint proportions in A. afarensis is a more parsimonious explanation. Overall, these results support an emerging perspective in hominin paleobiology that A. afarensis was the most terrestrially adapted australopith despite the importance of arboreality throughout much of early hominin evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Catherine K Miller
- Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States.,Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems, and Society, Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States
| | - Thomas Cody Prang
- Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
| | - Jeffrey Spear
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States.,New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, United States
| | - Scott A Williams
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States.,New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, United States
| | - Jeremy M DeSilva
- Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States.,Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems, and Society, Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States
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8
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Ben-Dor M, Sirtoli R, Barkai R. The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175 Suppl 72:27-56. [PMID: 33675083 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miki Ben-Dor
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | | | - Ran Barkai
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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9
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Young CB. Static allometry of a small-bodied omnivore: body size and limb scaling of an island fox and inferences for Homo floresiensis. J Hum Evol 2020; 149:102899. [PMID: 33137549 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2020] [Revised: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Island dwarfing is a paraphyletic adaptation across numerous mammalian genera. From mammoths to foxes, extreme body size reduction is shared by diverse organisms that migrate to an island environment. Because it largely occurs owing to ecological variables, not phylogenetic ones, skeletal characters in a dwarfed taxon compared with its ancestor may appear abnormal. As a result, allometric patterns between body size and morphological traits may differ for an island dwarf compared with its ancestor. The diminutive Late Pleistocene hominin, Homo floresiensis, displays a unique character suite that is outside of the normal range of variation for any extinct or extant hominin species. To better explain these as ecological traits due to island dwarfing, this research looks at how dwarfing on islands influences limb scaling and proportions in an organism in a similar ecological niche as H. floresiensis. Here, I analyze absolute limb lengths and static allometry of limb lengths regressed on predicted body mass of dwarfed island foxes and their nondwarfed relatives. Dwarfed island foxes have significantly smaller intercepts but steeper slopes of all limb elements regressed on predicted body mass than the mainland gray fox. These allometric alterations produce limbs in the island fox that are significantly shorter than predicted for a nondwarfed gray fox of similar body mass. In addition, the humerofemoral, intermembral, and brachial indices are significantly different. These results provide a novel model for understanding skeletal variation of island endemic forms. Unique body size and proportions of H. floresiensis are plausible as ecological adaptations and likely not examples of symplesiomorphies with Australopithecus sp. Caution should be exerted when comparing an island dwarf with a closely related species as deviations from allometric expectations may be common.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colleen B Young
- University of Missouri, Department of Anthropology, 112 Swallow Hall, Columbia, MO, 65203, USA.
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10
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Torres-Tamayo N, Schlager S, García-Martínez D, Sanchis-Gimeno JA, Nalla S, Ogihara N, Oishi M, Martelli S, Bastir M. Three-dimensional geometric morphometrics of thorax-pelvis covariation and its potential for predicting the thorax morphology: A case study on Kebara 2 Neandertal. J Hum Evol 2020; 147:102854. [PMID: 32805525 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Revised: 07/04/2020] [Accepted: 07/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The skeletal torso is a complex structure of outstanding importance in understanding human body shape evolution, but reconstruction usually entails an element of subjectivity as researchers apply their own anatomical expertise to the process. Among different fossil reconstruction methods, 3D geometric morphometric techniques have been increasingly used in the last decades. Two-block partial least squares analysis has shown great potential for predicting missing elements by exploiting the covariation between two structures (blocks) in a reference sample: one block can be predicted from the other one based on the strength of covariation between blocks. The first aim of this study is to test whether this predictive approach can be used for predicting thorax morphologies from pelvis morphologies within adult Homo sapiens reference samples with known covariation between the thorax and the pelvis. The second aim is to apply this method to Kebara 2 Neandertal (Israel, ∼60 ka) to predict its thorax morphology using two different pelvis reconstructions as predictors. We measured 134 true landmarks, 720 curve semilandmarks, and 160 surface semilandmarks on 60 3D virtual torso models segmented from CT scans. We conducted three two-block partial least squares analyses between the thorax (block 1) and the pelvis (block 2) based on the H. sapiens reference samples after performing generalized Procrustes superimposition on each block separately. Comparisons of these predictions in full shape space by means of Procrustes distances show that the male-only predictive model yields the most reliable predictions within modern humans. In addition, Kebara 2 thorax predictions based on this model concur with the thorax morphology proposed for Neandertals. The method presented here does not aim to replace other techniques, but to rather complement them through quantitative prediction of a virtual 'scaffold' to articulate the thoracic fossil elements, thus extending the potential of missing data estimation beyond the methods proposed in previous works.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Torres-Tamayo
- Paleoanthropology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), J.G. Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain; GIAVAL Research Group, Department of Anatomy and Human Embryology, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibanez, 15, E-46010, Valencia, Spain.
| | - Stefan Schlager
- Biological Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Hebelstr 29, D-79104, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Daniel García-Martínez
- Paleoanthropology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), J.G. Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain; Centro Nacional de Investigación Sobre La Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Avenida de La Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain
| | - Juan Alberto Sanchis-Gimeno
- GIAVAL Research Group, Department of Anatomy and Human Embryology, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibanez, 15, E-46010, Valencia, Spain
| | - Shahed Nalla
- Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 2006, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Naomichi Ogihara
- Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Motoharu Oishi
- Laboratory of Anatomy 1, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, Kanagawa, 252-5201, Japan
| | - Sandra Martelli
- UCL Centre for Integrative Anatomy (CIA), Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
| | - Markus Bastir
- Paleoanthropology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), J.G. Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain
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11
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Rib cage anatomy in Homo erectus suggests a recent evolutionary origin of modern human body shape. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:1178-1187. [PMID: 32632258 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1240-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The tall and narrow body shape of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved via changes in the thorax, pelvis and limbs. It is debated, however, whether these modifications first evolved together in African Homo erectus, or whether H. erectus had a more primitive body shape that was distinct from both the more ape-like Australopithecus species and H. sapiens. Here we present the first quantitative three-dimensional reconstruction of the thorax of the juvenile H. erectus skeleton, KNM-WT 15000, from Nariokotome, Kenya, along with its estimated adult rib cage, for comparison with H. sapiens and the Kebara 2 Neanderthal. Our three-dimensional reconstruction demonstrates a short, mediolaterally wide and anteroposteriorly deep thorax in KNM-WT 15000 that differs considerably from the much shallower thorax of H. sapiens, pointing to a recent evolutionary origin of fully modern human body shape. The large respiratory capacity of KNM-WT 15000 is compatible with the relatively stocky, more primitive, body shape of H. erectus.
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12
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Barrón-Ortiz CI, Avilla LS, Jass CN, Bravo-Cuevas VM, Machado H, Mothé D. What Is Equus? Reconciling Taxonomy and Phylogenetic Analyses. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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13
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Heaton JL, Pickering TR, Carlson KJ, Crompton RH, Jashashvili T, Beaudet A, Bruxelles L, Kuman K, Heile AJ, Stratford D, Clarke RJ. The long limb bones of the StW 573 Australopithecus skeleton from Sterkfontein Member 2: Descriptions and proportions. J Hum Evol 2019; 133:167-197. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2018] [Revised: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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14
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Gómez-Olivencia A, Holliday T, Madelaine S, Couture-Veschambre C, Maureille B. The costal skeleton of the Regourdou 1 Neandertal. J Hum Evol 2019; 130:151-171. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2017] [Revised: 12/28/2017] [Accepted: 12/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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15
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Torres-Tamayo N, García-Martínez D, Nalla S, Barash A, Williams SA, Blanco-Pérez E, Mata Escolano F, Sanchis-Gimeno JA, Bastir M. The torso integration hypothesis revisited in Homo sapiens: Contributions to the understanding of hominin body shape evolution. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 167:777-790. [PMID: 30259957 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 08/04/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Lower thoracic widths and curvatures track upper pelvic widths and iliac blades curvatures in hominins and other primates (torso integration hypothesis). However, recent studies suggest that sexual dimorphism could challenge this assumption in Homo sapiens. We test the torso integration hypothesis in two modern human populations, both considering and excluding the effect of sexual dimorphism. We further assess covariation patterns between different thoracic and pelvic levels, and we explore the allometric effects on torso shape variation. MATERIAL AND METHODS A sex-balanced sample of 50 anatomically connected torsos (25 Mediterraneans, 25 Sub-Saharan Africans) was segmented from computed tomography scans. We compared the maximum medio-lateral width at seventh-ninth rib levels with pelvic bi-iliac breadth in males and females within both populations. We measured 1,030 (semi)landmarks on 3D torso models, and torso shape variation, mean size and shape comparisons, thoraco-pelvic covariation and allometric effects were quantified through 3D geometric morphometrics. RESULTS Females show narrow thoraces and wide pelves and males show wide thoraces and narrow pelves, although this trend is more evident in Mediterraneans than in Sub-Saharans. Equal thoracic and pelvic widths, depths and curvatures were found in absence of sexual dimorphism. The highest strength of covariation was found between the lowest rib levels and the ilia, and allometric analyses showed that smaller torsos were wider than larger torsos. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study testing statistically the torso integration hypothesis in anatomically connected torsos. We propose a new and more complex torso integration model in H. sapiens with sexual dimorphism leading to different thoracic and pelvic widths and curvatures. These findings have important implications in hominin body shape reconstructions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Shahed Nalla
- Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.,Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Alon Barash
- Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Scott A Williams
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.,Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York.,New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, New York
| | | | - Federico Mata Escolano
- CT and MRI Unit, ERESA, Department of Radiology, General University Hospital, Valencia, Spain
| | - Juan Alberto Sanchis-Gimeno
- Department of Radiology, Hospital de La Ribera, Valencia, Spain.,Department of Anatomy and Human Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Markus Bastir
- Paleoanthropology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain
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16
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García-Martínez D, Campo Martín M, González Martín A, Cambra-Moo Ó, Barash A, Bastir M. Reevaluation of ‘endocostal ossifications’ on the Kebara 2 Neanderthal ribs. J Hum Evol 2018; 122:33-37. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2017] [Revised: 04/21/2018] [Accepted: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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17
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Arlegi M, Gómez‐Robles A, Gómez‐Olivencia A. Morphological integration in the gorilla, chimpanzee, and human neck. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 166:408-416. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2017] [Revised: 01/31/2018] [Accepted: 02/01/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mikel Arlegi
- Department of Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y TecnologíaEuskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/nLeioa, 48940 Spain
- Université de Bordeaux, PACEA UMR 5199, Bâtiment B8, Allée Geoffroy Saint‐HilairePessac 33615 France
| | - Aida Gómez‐Robles
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and EnvironmentUniversity College LondonLondon WC1E 6BT United Kingdom
- Department of Life SciencesNatural History MuseumLondon SW7 5BD United Kingdom
| | - Asier Gómez‐Olivencia
- Department of Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y TecnologíaEuskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/nLeioa, 48940 Spain
- IKERBASQUE. Basque Foundation for Science Spain
- Centro UCM‐ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Avda. Monforte de Lemos 5 (Pabellón 14)Madrid 28029 Spain
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18
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EarlyHomoand the role of the genus in paleoanthropology. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 165 Suppl 65:72-89. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2017] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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19
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Ruff CB, Burgess ML, Squyres N, Junno JA, Trinkaus E. Lower limb articular scaling and body mass estimation in Pliocene and Pleistocene hominins. J Hum Evol 2018; 115:85-111. [PMID: 29331230 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2017] [Revised: 10/11/2017] [Accepted: 10/14/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Previous attempts to estimate body mass in pre-Holocene hominins have relied on prediction equations derived from relatively limited extant samples. Here we derive new equations to predict body mass from femoral head breadth and proximal tibial plateau breadth based on a large and diverse sample of modern humans (avoiding the problems associated with using diaphyseal dimensions and/or cadaveric reference samples). In addition, an adjustment for the relatively small femoral heads of non-Homo taxa is developed based on observed differences in hip to knee joint scaling. Body mass is then estimated for 214 terminal Miocene through Pleistocene hominin specimens. Mean body masses for non-Homo taxa range between 39 and 49 kg (39-45 kg if sex-specific means are averaged), with no consistent temporal trend (6-1.85 Ma). Mean body mass increases in early Homo (2.04-1.77 Ma) to 55-59 kg, and then again dramatically in Homo erectus and later archaic middle Pleistocene Homo, to about 70 kg. The same average body mass is maintained in late Pleistocene archaic Homo and early anatomically modern humans through the early/middle Upper Paleolithic (0.024 Ma), only declining in the late Upper Paleolithic, with regional variation. Sexual dimorphism in body mass is greatest in Australopithecus afarensis (log[male/female] = 1.54), declines in Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus (log ratio 1.36), and then again in early Homo and middle and late Pleistocene archaic Homo (log ratio 1.20-1.27), although it remains somewhat elevated above that of living and middle/late Pleistocene anatomically modern humans (log ratio about 1.15).
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher B Ruff
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 E. Monument St., Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
| | - M Loring Burgess
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 E. Monument St., Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Nicole Squyres
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 E. Monument St., Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Juho-Antti Junno
- Department of Archeology, University of Oulu, Oulu 90014, Finland
| | - Erik Trinkaus
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
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20
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Ruff CB, Niskanen M. Introduction to special issue: Body mass estimation - Methodological issues and fossil applications. J Hum Evol 2017; 115:1-7. [PMID: 29174414 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2017] [Accepted: 09/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher B Ruff
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 E. Monument St., Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
| | - Markku Niskanen
- Department of Archeology, University of Oulu, Oulu 90014, Finland.
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21
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Will M, Pablos A, Stock JT. Long-term patterns of body mass and stature evolution within the hominin lineage. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2017; 4:171339. [PMID: 29291118 PMCID: PMC5717693 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2017] [Accepted: 10/04/2017] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Body size is a central determinant of a species' biology and adaptive strategy, but the number of reliable estimates of hominin body mass and stature have been insufficient to determine long-term patterns and subtle interactions in these size components within our lineage. Here, we analyse 254 body mass and 204 stature estimates from a total of 311 hominin specimens dating from 4.4 Ma to the Holocene using multi-level chronological and taxonomic analytical categories. The results demonstrate complex temporal patterns of body size variation with phases of relative stasis intermitted by periods of rapid increases. The observed trajectories could result from punctuated increases at speciation events, but also differential proliferation of large-bodied taxa or the extinction of small-bodied populations. Combined taxonomic and temporal analyses show that in relation to australopithecines, early Homo is characterized by significantly larger average body mass and stature but retains considerable diversity, including small body sizes. Within later Homo, stature and body mass evolution follow different trajectories: average modern stature is maintained from ca 1.6 Ma, while consistently higher body masses are not established until the Middle Pleistocene at ca 0.5-0.4 Ma, likely caused by directional selection related to colonizing higher latitudes. Selection against small-bodied individuals (less than 40 kg; less than 140 cm) after 1.4 Ma is associated with a decrease in relative size variability in later Homo species compared with earlier Homo and australopithecines. The isolated small-bodied individuals of Homo naledi (ca 0.3 Ma) and Homo floresiensis (ca 100-60 ka) constitute important exceptions to these general patterns, adding further layers of complexity to the evolution of body size within the genus Homo. At the end of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, body size in Homo sapiens declines on average, but also extends to lower limits not seen in comparable frequency since early Homo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Will
- Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QG, UK
- PAVE Research Group, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QG, UK
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Adrián Pablos
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
- Grupo de Bioacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropolgía (BEP), Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, 28871 Madrid, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, c/Monforte de Lemos, 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Jay T. Stock
- PAVE Research Group, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QG, UK
- Department of Anthropology, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaN6A 3K7
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22
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de Ruiter DJ, Churchill S, Hawks J, Berger L. Late Australopiths and the Emergence of Homo. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-102116-041734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
New fossil discoveries and new analyses increasingly blur the lines between Australopithecus and Homo, changing scientific ideas about the transition between the two genera. The concept of the genus itself remains an unsettled issue, though recent fossil discoveries and theoretical advances, alongside developments in phylogenetic reconstruction and hypothesis testing, are helping us approach a resolution. A review of the latest discoveries and research reveals that (a) despite the recent recovery of key fossil specimens, the antiquity of the genus Homo remains uncertain; (b) although there exist several australopith candidate ancestors for the genus Homo, there is little consensus about which of these, if any, represents the actual ancestor; and (c) potential convergent evolution (homoplasy) in adaptively significant features in late australopiths and basal members of the Homo clade, combined with probable reticulate evolution, makes it currently impossible to identify the direct ancestor of Homo erectus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darryl J. de Ruiter
- Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa
| | - S.E. Churchill
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708
| | - J. Hawks
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
| | - L.R. Berger
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre for Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa
- School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa
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23
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Antón SC, Kuzawa CW. Early Homo, plasticity and the extended evolutionary synthesis. Interface Focus 2017; 7:20170004. [PMID: 28839926 PMCID: PMC5566814 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2017.0004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The Modern Synthesis led to fundamental advances in understandings of human evolution. For human palaeontology, a science that works from ancestral phenotypes (i.e. the fossil record), particularly important have been perspectives used to help understand the heritable aspects of phenotypes and how fossil individuals might then be aggregated into species, and relationships among these groups understood. This focus, coupled with the fragmentary nature of the fossil record, however, means that individual phenotypic variation is often treated as unimportant 'noise', rather than as a source of insight into population adaptation and evolutionary process. The emphasis of the extended evolutionary synthesis on plasticity as a source of phenotypic novelty, and the related question of the role of such variation in long-term evolutionary trends, focuses welcome attention on non-genetic means by which novel phenotypes are generated and in so doing provides alternative approaches to interpreting the fossil record. We review evidence from contemporary human populations regarding some of the aspects of adult phenotypes preserved in the fossil record that might be most responsive to non-genetic drivers, and we consider how these perspectives lead to alternate hypotheses for interpreting the fossil record of early genus Homo. We conclude by arguing that paying closer attention to the causes and consequences of intraspecific phenotypic variation in its own right, as opposed to as noise around a species mean, may inspire a new generation of hypotheses regarding species diversity in the Early Pleistocene and the foundations for dispersal and regional diversification in Homo erectus and its descendants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan C. Antón
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Christopher W. Kuzawa
- Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, 1810 Hinman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201, USA
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24
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Garvin HM, Elliott MC, Delezene LK, Hawks J, Churchill SE, Berger LR, Holliday TW. Body size, brain size, and sexual dimorphism in Homo naledi from the Dinaledi Chamber. J Hum Evol 2017; 111:119-138. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2016] [Revised: 06/19/2017] [Accepted: 06/23/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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25
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Jungers WL, Grabowski M, Hatala KG, Richmond BG. The evolution of body size and shape in the human career. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0247. [PMID: 27298459 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Body size is a fundamental biological property of organisms, and documenting body size variation in hominin evolution is an important goal of palaeoanthropology. Estimating body mass appears deceptively simple but is laden with theoretical and pragmatic assumptions about best predictors and the most appropriate reference samples. Modern human training samples with known masses are arguably the 'best' for estimating size in early bipedal hominins such as the australopiths and all members of the genus Homo, but it is not clear if they are the most appropriate priors for reconstructing the size of the earliest putative hominins such as Orrorin and Ardipithecus The trajectory of body size evolution in the early part of the human career is reviewed here and found to be complex and nonlinear. Australopith body size varies enormously across both space and time. The pre-erectus early Homo fossil record from Africa is poor and dominated by relatively small-bodied individuals, implying that the emergence of the genus Homo is probably not linked to an increase in body size or unprecedented increases in size variation. Body size differences alone cannot explain the observed variation in hominin body shape, especially when examined in the context of small fossil hominins and pygmy modern humans.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- William L Jungers
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY 11795, USA Association Vahatra, BP 3972, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - Mark Grabowski
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G St., NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Kevin G Hatala
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G St., NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Brian G Richmond
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA Department of Human Evolution, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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26
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Vidal-Cordasco M, Mateos A, Zorrilla-Revilla G, Prado-Nóvoa O, Rodríguez J. Energetic cost of walking in fossil hominins. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2017; 164:609-622. [PMID: 28832938 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2016] [Revised: 01/15/2017] [Accepted: 08/05/2017] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Many biomechanical studies consistently show that a broader pelvis increases the reaction forces and bending moments across the femoral shaft, increasing the energetic costs of unloaded locomotion. However, a biomechanical model does not provide the real amount of metabolic energy expended in walking. The aim of this study is to test the influence of pelvis breadth on locomotion cost and to evaluate the locomotion efficiency of extinct Pleistocene hominins. MATERIAL AND METHODS The current study measures in vivo the influence of pelvis width on the caloric cost of locomotion, integrating anthropometry, body composition and indirect calorimetry protocols in a sample of 46 subjects of both sexes. RESULTS We show that a broader false pelvis is substantially more efficient for locomotion than a narrower one and that the influence of false pelvis width on the energetic cost is similar to the influence of leg length. Two models integrating body mass, femur length and bi-iliac breadth are used to estimate the net and gross energetic costs of locomotion in a number of extinct hominins. The results presented here show that the locomotion of Homo was not energetically more efficient than that of Australopithecus and that the locomotion of extinct Homo species was not less efficient than that of modern Homo sapiens. DISCUSSION The changes in the anatomy of the pelvis and lower limb observed with the appearance of Homo ergaster probably did not fully offset the increased expenditure resulting from a larger body mass. Moreover, the narrow pelvis in modern humans does not contribute to greater efficiency of locomotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Vidal-Cordasco
- Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca, National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), 3, Burgos 09002, Spain
| | - A Mateos
- Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca, National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), 3, Burgos 09002, Spain
| | - G Zorrilla-Revilla
- Escuela Interuniversitaria de Posgrado en Evolucion Humana, Universidad de Burgos, Pza. Misael Bañuelos s/n, Burgos 09001, Spain
| | - O Prado-Nóvoa
- Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca, National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), 3, Burgos 09002, Spain
| | - J Rodríguez
- Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca, National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), 3, Burgos 09002, Spain
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27
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The costal remains of the El Sidrón Neanderthal site (Asturias, northern Spain) and their importance for understanding Neanderthal thorax morphology. J Hum Evol 2017; 111:85-101. [PMID: 28874276 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2016] [Revised: 06/05/2017] [Accepted: 06/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The study of the Neanderthal thorax has attracted the attention of the scientific community for more than a century. It is agreed that Neanderthals have a more capacious thorax than modern humans, but whether this was caused by a medio-lateral or an antero-posterior expansion of the thorax is still debated, and is key to understanding breathing biomechanics and body shape in Neanderthals. The fragile nature of ribs, the metameric structure of the thorax and difficulties in quantifying thorax morphology all contribute to uncertainty regarding precise aspects of Neanderthal thoracic shape. The El Sidrón site has yielded costal remains from the upper to the lower thorax, as well as several proximal rib ends (frequently missing in the Neanderthal record), which help to shed light on Neanderthal thorax shape. We compared the El Sidrón costal elements with ribs from recent modern humans as well as with fossil modern humans and other Neanderthals through traditional morphometric methods and 3D geometric morphometrics, combined with missing data estimation and virtual reconstruction (at the 1st, 5th and 11th costal levels). Our results show that Neanderthals have larger rib heads and articular tubercles than their modern human counterparts. Neanderthal 1st ribs are smaller than in modern humans, whereas 5th and 11th ribs are considerably larger. When we articulated mean ribs (size and shape) with their corresponding vertebral elements, we observed that compared to modern humans the Neanderthal thorax is medio-laterally expanded at every level, especially at T5 and T11. Therefore, in the light of evidence from the El Sidrón costal remains, we hypothesize that the volumetric expansion of the Neanderthal thorax proposed by previous authors would mainly be produced by a medio-lateral expansion of the thorax.
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28
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29
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Rosenberg KR, DeSilva JM. Evolution of the Human Pelvis. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2017; 300:789-797. [PMID: 28406563 DOI: 10.1002/ar.23580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2017] [Accepted: 02/15/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
No bone in the human postcranial skeleton differs more dramatically from its match in an ape skeleton than the pelvis. Humans have evolved a specialized pelvis, well-adapted for the rigors of bipedal locomotion. Precisely how this happened has been the subject of great interest and contention in the paleoanthropological literature. In part, this is because of the fragility of the pelvis and its resulting rarity in the human fossil record. However, new discoveries from Miocene hominoids and Plio-Pleistocene hominins have reenergized debates about human pelvic evolution and shed new light on the competing roles of bipedal locomotion and obstetrics in shaping pelvic anatomy. In this issue, 13 papers address the evolution of the human pelvis. Here, we summarize these new contributions to our understanding of pelvic evolution, and share our own thoughts on the progress the field has made, and the questions that still remain. Anat Rec, 300:789-797, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen R Rosenberg
- Department of Anthropology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
| | - Jeremy M DeSilva
- Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
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30
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The thigh and leg of Homo naledi. J Hum Evol 2017; 104:174-204. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2015] [Revised: 09/06/2016] [Accepted: 09/07/2016] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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31
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Williams SA, García-Martínez D, Bastir M, Meyer MR, Nalla S, Hawks J, Schmid P, Churchill SE, Berger LR. The vertebrae and ribs of Homo naledi. J Hum Evol 2017; 104:136-154. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2015] [Revised: 11/16/2016] [Accepted: 11/17/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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32
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Skull 5 from Dmanisi: Descriptive anatomy, comparative studies, and evolutionary significance. J Hum Evol 2017; 104:50-79. [PMID: 28317556 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2015] [Revised: 01/09/2017] [Accepted: 01/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
A fifth hominin skull (cranium D4500 and mandible D2600) from Dmanisi is massively constructed, with a large face and a very small brain. Traits documented for the first time in a basal member of the Homo clade include the uniquely low ratio of endocranial volume to basicranial width, reduced vertex height, angular vault profile, smooth nasal sill coupled with a long and sloping maxillary clivus, elongated palate, and tall mandibular corpus. The convex clivus and receding symphysis of skull 5 produce a muzzle-like form similar to that of Australopithecus afarensis. While the Dmanisi cranium is very robust, differing from OH 13, OH 24, and KNM-ER 1813, it resembles Homo habilis specimens in the "squared off" outline of its maxilla in facial view, maxillary sulcus, rounded and receding zygomatic arch, and flexed zygomaticoalveolar pillar. These characters distinguish early Homo from species of Australopithecus and Paranthropus. Skull 5 is unlike Homo rudolfensis cranium KNM-ER 1470. Although it appears generally primitive, skull 5 possesses a bar-like supraorbital torus, elongated temporal squama, occipital transverse torus, and petrotympanic traits considered to be derived for Homo erectus. As a group, the Dmanisi crania and mandibles display substantial anatomical and metric variation. A key question is whether the fossils document age-related growth and sex dimorphism within a single population, or whether two (or more) distinct taxa may be present at the site. We use the coefficient of variation to compare Dmanisi with Paranthropus boisei, H. erectus, and recent Homo sapiens, finding few signals that the Dmanisi sample is excessively variable in comparison to these reference taxa. Using cranial measurements and principal components analysis, we explore the proposal that the Dmanisi skulls can be grouped within a regionally diverse hypodigm for H. erectus. Our results provide only weak support for this hypothesis. Finally, we consider all available morphological and paleobiological evidence in an attempt to clarify the phyletic relationship of Dmanisi to Homo species evolving >2.0 to 1.0 Ma.
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33
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Kimbel WH, Villmoare B. From Australopithecus to Homo: the transition that wasn't. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150248. [PMID: 27298460 PMCID: PMC4920303 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the transition from Australopithecus to Homo is usually thought of as a momentous transformation, the fossil record bearing on the origin and earliest evolution of Homo is virtually undocumented. As a result, the poles of the transition are frequently attached to taxa (e.g. A. afarensis, at ca 3.0 Ma versus H. habilis or H. erectus, at ca 2.0-1.7 Ma) in which substantial adaptive differences have accumulated over significant spans of independent evolution. Such comparisons, in which temporally remote and adaptively divergent species are used to identify a 'transition', lend credence to the idea that genera should be conceived at once as monophyletic clades and adaptively unified grades. However, when the problem is recast in terms of lineages, rather than taxa per se, the adaptive criterion becomes a problem of subjectively privileging 'key' characteristics from what is typically a stepwise pattern of acquisition of novel characters beginning in the basal representatives of a clade. This is the pattern inferred for species usually included in early Homo, including H. erectus, which has often been cast in the role as earliest humanlike hominin. A fresh look at brain size, hand morphology and earliest technology suggests that a number of key Homo attributes may already be present in generalized species of Australopithecus, and that adaptive distinctions in Homo are simply amplifications or extensions of ancient hominin trends.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- William H Kimbel
- Institute of Human Origins, and School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Brian Villmoare
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA Department of Anthropology, University College London, London UK WC1H 0BW
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Arsuaga JL, Carretero JM, Lorenzo C, Gómez-Olivencia A, Pablos A, Rodríguez L, García-González R, Bonmatí A, Quam RM, Pantoja-Pérez A, Martínez I, Aranburu A, Gracia-Téllez A, Poza-Rey E, Sala N, García N, Alcázar de Velasco A, Cuenca-Bescós G, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Carbonell E. Postcranial morphology of the middle Pleistocene humans from Sima de los Huesos, Spain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:11524-9. [PMID: 26324920 PMCID: PMC4577189 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1514828112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Current knowledge of the evolution of the postcranial skeleton in the genus Homo is hampered by a geographically and chronologically scattered fossil record. Here we present a complete characterization of the postcranium of the middle Pleistocene paleodeme from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) and its paleobiological implications. The SH hominins show the following: (i) wide bodies, a plesiomorphic character in the genus Homo inherited from their early hominin ancestors; (ii) statures that can be found in modern human middle-latitude populations that first appeared 1.6-1.5 Mya; and (iii) large femoral heads in some individuals, a trait that first appeared during the middle Pleistocene in Africa and Europe. The intrapopulational size variation in SH shows that the level of dimorphism was similar to modern humans (MH), but the SH hominins were less encephalized than Neandertals. SH shares many postcranial anatomical features with Neandertals. Although most of these features appear to be either plesiomorphic retentions or are of uncertain phylogenetic polarity, a few represent Neandertal apomorphies. Nevertheless, the full suite of Neandertal-derived features is not yet present in the SH population. The postcranial evidence is consistent with the hypothesis based on the cranial morphology that the SH hominins are a sister group to the later Neandertals. Comparison of the SH postcranial skeleton to other hominins suggests that the evolution of the postcranium occurred in a mosaic mode, both at a general and at a detailed level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
| | - José-Miguel Carretero
- Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain; Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Carlos Lorenzo
- Àrea de Prehistòria, Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43002 Tarragona, Spain; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Asier Gómez-Olivencia
- Departamento Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 48080 Bilbao, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain; UMR 7194, CNRS, Département Préhistoire, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Musée de l'Homme, 75016 Paris, France; Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Adrián Pablos
- Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain; Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura Rodríguez
- Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain; Centro Nacional de Investigación Sobre la Evolución Humana, 09002 Burgos, Spain
| | - Rebeca García-González
- Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
| | - Alejandro Bonmatí
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Rolf M Quam
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000; Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024-5192; Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Ana Pantoja-Pérez
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Ignacio Martínez
- Área de Antropología Física, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain; Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Arantza Aranburu
- Departamento Mineralogía y Petrología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 48080 Bilbao, Spain
| | - Ana Gracia-Téllez
- Área de Paleontología, Departamento de Geografía y Geología, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain; Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Eva Poza-Rey
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Nohemi Sala
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Nuria García
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Almudena Alcázar de Velasco
- Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid - Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Gloria Cuenca-Bescós
- Paleontología, Aragosaurus-Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón and Facultad Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
| | | | - Eudald Carbonell
- Àrea de Prehistòria, Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43002 Tarragona, Spain; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of Beijing, 100044 Beijing, China
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Berger LR, Hawks J, de Ruiter DJ, Churchill SE, Schmid P, Delezene LK, Kivell TL, Garvin HM, Williams SA, DeSilva JM, Skinner MM, Musiba CM, Cameron N, Holliday TW, Harcourt-Smith W, Ackermann RR, Bastir M, Bogin B, Bolter D, Brophy J, Cofran ZD, Congdon KA, Deane AS, Dembo M, Drapeau M, Elliott MC, Feuerriegel EM, Garcia-Martinez D, Green DJ, Gurtov A, Irish JD, Kruger A, Laird MF, Marchi D, Meyer MR, Nalla S, Negash EW, Orr CM, Radovcic D, Schroeder L, Scott JE, Throckmorton Z, Tocheri MW, VanSickle C, Walker CS, Wei P, Zipfel B. Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa. eLife 2015; 4:e09560. [PMID: 26354291 PMCID: PMC4559886 DOI: 10.7554/elife.09560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 198] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2015] [Accepted: 08/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Homo naledi is a previously-unknown species of extinct hominin discovered within the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. This species is characterized by body mass and stature similar to small-bodied human populations but a small endocranial volume similar to australopiths. Cranial morphology of H. naledi is unique, but most similar to early Homo species including Homo erectus, Homo habilis or Homo rudolfensis. While primitive, the dentition is generally small and simple in occlusal morphology. H. naledi has humanlike manipulatory adaptations of the hand and wrist. It also exhibits a humanlike foot and lower limb. These humanlike aspects are contrasted in the postcrania with a more primitive or australopith-like trunk, shoulder, pelvis and proximal femur. Representing at least 15 individuals with most skeletal elements repeated multiple times, this is the largest assemblage of a single species of hominins yet discovered in Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lee R Berger
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - John Hawks
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
| | - Darryl J de Ruiter
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
| | - Steven E Churchill
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, United States
| | - Peter Schmid
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lucas K Delezene
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, United States
| | - Tracy L Kivell
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Heather M Garvin
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology/Archaeology and Department of Applied Forensic Sciences, Mercyhurst University, Erie, United States
| | - Scott A Williams
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, United States
| | - Jeremy M DeSilva
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States
| | - Matthew M Skinner
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Charles M Musiba
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, United States
| | - Noel Cameron
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Trenton W Holliday
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, United States
| | - William Harcourt-Smith
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, Lehman College, Bronx, United States
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, United States
| | - Rebecca R Ackermann
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Markus Bastir
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Paleoanthropology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain
| | - Barry Bogin
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Debra Bolter
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, Modesto Junior College, Modesto, United States
| | - Juliet Brophy
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Zachary D Cofran
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
| | - Kimberly A Congdon
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, United States
| | - Andrew S Deane
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, United States
| | - Mana Dembo
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Human Evolutionary Studies Program and Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
| | - Michelle Drapeau
- Department d'Anthropologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - Marina C Elliott
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Human Evolutionary Studies Program and Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
| | - Elen M Feuerriegel
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Daniel Garcia-Martinez
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Paleoanthropology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain
- Faculty of Sciences, Biology Department, Universidad Autònoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - David J Green
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anatomy, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, United States
| | - Alia Gurtov
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
| | - Joel D Irish
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Ashley Kruger
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Myra F Laird
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, United States
| | - Damiano Marchi
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Marc R Meyer
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, United States
| | - Shahed Nalla
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Enquye W Negash
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, United States
| | - Caley M Orr
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States
| | - Davorka Radovcic
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Geology and Paleontology, Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Lauren Schroeder
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Jill E Scott
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, United States
| | - Zachary Throckmorton
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anatomy, DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, United States
| | - Matthew W Tocheri
- Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, United States
- Department of Anthropology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada
| | - Caroline VanSickle
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
- Department of Gender and Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
| | - Christopher S Walker
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, United States
| | - Pianpian Wei
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Paleoanthropology, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, China
| | - Bernhard Zipfel
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Heyes P, MacDonald K. Neandertal energetics: Uncertainty in body mass estimation limits comparisons with Homo sapiens. J Hum Evol 2015; 85:193-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2014] [Revised: 04/14/2015] [Accepted: 04/17/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Grabowski M, Roseman CC. Complex and changing patterns of natural selection explain the evolution of the human hip. J Hum Evol 2015; 85:94-110. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2013] [Revised: 05/12/2015] [Accepted: 05/13/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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Body mass estimates of hominin fossils and the evolution of human body size. J Hum Evol 2015; 85:75-93. [PMID: 26094042 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2014] [Revised: 05/06/2015] [Accepted: 05/07/2015] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Body size directly influences an animal's place in the natural world, including its energy requirements, home range size, relative brain size, locomotion, diet, life history, and behavior. Thus, an understanding of the biology of extinct organisms, including species in our own lineage, requires accurate estimates of body size. Since the last major review of hominin body size based on postcranial morphology over 20 years ago, new fossils have been discovered, species attributions have been clarified, and methods improved. Here, we present the most comprehensive and thoroughly vetted set of individual fossil hominin body mass predictions to date, and estimation equations based on a large (n = 220) sample of modern humans of known body masses. We also present species averages based exclusively on fossils with reliable taxonomic attributions, estimates of species averages by sex, and a metric for levels of sexual dimorphism. Finally, we identify individual traits that appear to be the most reliable for mass estimation for each fossil species, for use when only one measurement is available for a fossil. Our results show that many early hominins were generally smaller-bodied than previously thought, an outcome likely due to larger estimates in previous studies resulting from the use of large-bodied modern human reference samples. Current evidence indicates that modern human-like large size first appeared by at least 3-3.5 Ma in some Australopithecus afarensis individuals. Our results challenge an evolutionary model arguing that body size increased from Australopithecus to early Homo. Instead, we show that there is no reliable evidence that the body size of non-erectus early Homo differed from that of australopiths, and confirm that Homo erectus evolved larger average body size than earlier hominins.
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Braga J, Loubes JM, Descouens D, Dumoncel J, Thackeray JF, Kahn JL, de Beer F, Riberon A, Hoffman K, Balaresque P, Gilissen E. Disproportionate Cochlear Length in Genus Homo Shows a High Phylogenetic Signal during Apes' Hearing Evolution. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0127780. [PMID: 26083484 PMCID: PMC4471221 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2014] [Accepted: 04/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Changes in lifestyles and body weight affected mammal life-history evolution but little is known about how they shaped species’ sensory systems. Since auditory sensitivity impacts communication tasks and environmental acoustic awareness, it may have represented a deciding factor during mammal evolution, including apes. Here, we statistically measure the influence of phylogeny and allometry on the variation of five cochlear morphological features associated with hearing capacities across 22 living and 5 fossil catarrhine species. We find high phylogenetic signals for absolute and relative cochlear length only. Comparisons between fossil cochleae and reconstructed ape ancestral morphotypes show that Australopithecus absolute and relative cochlear lengths are explicable by phylogeny and concordant with the hypothetized ((Pan,Homo),Gorilla) and (Pan,Homo) most recent common ancestors. Conversely, deviations of the Paranthropus oval window area from these most recent common ancestors are not explicable by phylogeny and body weight alone, but suggest instead rapid evolutionary changes (directional selection) of its hearing organ. Premodern (Homo erectus) and modern human cochleae set apart from living non-human catarrhines and australopiths. They show cochlear relative lengths and oval window areas larger than expected for their body mass, two features corresponding to increased low-frequency sensitivity more recent than 2 million years ago. The uniqueness of the “hypertrophied” cochlea in the genus Homo (as opposed to the australopiths) and the significantly high phylogenetic signal of this organ among apes indicate its usefulness to identify homologies and monophyletic groups in the hominid fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Braga
- Hominid Evolutionary Biology, AMIS-UMR 5288 CNRS, University of Toulouse (Paul Sabatier), Toulouse, France
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- * E-mail:
| | - J-M. Loubes
- Statistics and Probabilities Team, Institute of Mathematics of Toulouse, UMR 5219 CNRS-Université de Toulouse (Paul Sabatier), Toulouse, France
| | - D. Descouens
- Hominid Evolutionary Biology, AMIS-UMR 5288 CNRS, University of Toulouse (Paul Sabatier), Toulouse, France
| | - J. Dumoncel
- Hominid Evolutionary Biology, AMIS-UMR 5288 CNRS, University of Toulouse (Paul Sabatier), Toulouse, France
| | - J. F. Thackeray
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - J-L. Kahn
- Institut d'Anatomie Normale et Pathologique, Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - F. de Beer
- South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, Pelindaba, North West Province, South Africa
| | - A. Riberon
- Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174 CNRS, University of Toulouse (Paul Sabatier), Toulouse, France
| | - K. Hoffman
- South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, Pelindaba, North West Province, South Africa
| | - P. Balaresque
- Hominid Evolutionary Biology, AMIS-UMR 5288 CNRS, University of Toulouse (Paul Sabatier), Toulouse, France
| | - E. Gilissen
- Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium and Laboratory of Histology and Neuropathology, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
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41
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Sistiaga A, Wrangham R, Rothman JM, Summons RE. New Insights into the Evolution of the Human Diet from Faecal Biomarker Analysis in Wild Chimpanzee and Gorilla Faeces. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0128931. [PMID: 26061730 PMCID: PMC4465628 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2015] [Accepted: 05/01/2015] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Our understanding of early human diets is based on reconstructed biomechanics of hominin jaws, bone and teeth isotopic data, tooth wear patterns, lithic, taphonomic and zooarchaeological data, which do not provide information about the relative amounts of different types of foods that contributed most to early human diets. Faecal biomarkers are proving to be a valuable tool in identifying relative proportions of plant and animal tissues in Palaeolithic diets. A limiting factor in the application of the faecal biomarker approach is the striking absence of data related to the occurrence of faecal biomarkers in non-human primate faeces. In this study we explored the nature and proportions of sterols and stanols excreted by our closest living relatives. This investigation reports the first faecal biomarker data for wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei). Our results suggest that the chemometric analysis of faecal biomarkers is a useful tool for distinguishing between NHP and human faecal matter, and hence, it could provide information for palaeodietary research and early human diets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ainara Sistiaga
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States of America
- Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain
| | | | | | - Roger E. Summons
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States of America
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42
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A geometric morphometrics comparative analysis of Neandertal humeri (epiphyses-fused) from the El Sidrón cave site (Asturias, Spain). J Hum Evol 2015; 82:51-66. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2014] [Revised: 02/25/2015] [Accepted: 02/27/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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43
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Spatial and temporal variation of body size among early Homo. J Hum Evol 2015; 82:15-33. [PMID: 25818180 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2014] [Revised: 01/05/2015] [Accepted: 02/10/2015] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The estimation of body size among the earliest members of the genus Homo (2.4-1.5Myr [millions of years ago]) is central to interpretations of their biology. It is widely accepted that Homo ergaster possessed increased body size compared with Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, and that this may have been a factor involved with the dispersal of Homo out of Africa. The study of taxonomic differences in body size, however, is problematic. Postcranial remains are rarely associated with craniodental fossils, and taxonomic attributions frequently rest upon the size of skeletal elements. Previous body size estimates have been based upon well-preserved specimens with a more reliable species assessment. Since these samples are small (n < 5) and disparate in space and time, little is known about geographical and chronological variation in body size within early Homo. We investigate temporal and spatial variation in body size among fossils of early Homo using a 'taxon-free' approach, considering evidence for size variation from isolated and fragmentary postcranial remains (n = 39). To render the size of disparate fossil elements comparable, we derived new regression equations for common parameters of body size from a globally representative sample of hunter-gatherers and applied them to available postcranial measurements from the fossils. The results demonstrate chronological and spatial variation but no simple temporal or geographical trends for the evolution of body size among early Homo. Pronounced body size increases within Africa take place only after hominin populations were established at Dmanisi, suggesting that migrations into Eurasia were not contingent on larger body sizes. The primary evidence for these marked changes among early Homo is based upon material from Koobi Fora after 1.7Myr, indicating regional size variation. The significant body size differences between specimens from Koobi Fora and Olduvai support the cranial evidence for at least two co-existing morphotypes in the Early Pleistocene of eastern Africa.
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44
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Antón SC, Potts R, Aiello LC. Evolution of earlyHomo: An integrated biological perspective. Science 2014; 345:1236828. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1236828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 339] [Impact Index Per Article: 33.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Integration of evidence over the past decade has revised understandings about the major adaptations underlying the origin and early evolution of the genusHomo. Many features associated withHomo sapiens, including our large linear bodies, elongated hind limbs, large energy-expensive brains, reduced sexual dimorphism, increased carnivory, and unique life history traits, were once thought to have evolved near the origin of the genus in response to heightened aridity and open habitats in Africa. However, recent analyses of fossil, archaeological, and environmental data indicate that such traits did not arise as a single package. Instead, some arose substantially earlier and some later than previously thought. From ~2.5 to 1.5 million years ago, three lineages of earlyHomoevolved in a context of habitat instability and fragmentation on seasonal, intergenerational, and evolutionary time scales. These contexts gave a selective advantage to traits, such as dietary flexibility and larger body size, that facilitated survival in shifting environments.
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Pontzer H, Raichlen DA, Rodman PS. Bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion in chimpanzees. J Hum Evol 2014; 66:64-82. [PMID: 24315239 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2012] [Revised: 09/17/2013] [Accepted: 10/18/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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47
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Lordkipanidze D, Ponce de León MS, Margvelashvili A, Rak Y, Rightmire GP, Vekua A, Zollikofer CPE. A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo. Science 2013; 342:326-31. [PMID: 24136960 DOI: 10.1126/science.1238484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 321] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The site of Dmanisi, Georgia, has yielded an impressive sample of hominid cranial and postcranial remains, documenting the presence of Homo outside Africa around 1.8 million years ago. Here we report on a new cranium from Dmanisi (D4500) that, together with its mandible (D2600), represents the world's first completely preserved adult hominid skull from the early Pleistocene. D4500/D2600 combines a small braincase (546 cubic centimeters) with a large prognathic face and exhibits close morphological affinities with the earliest known Homo fossils from Africa. The Dmanisi sample, which now comprises five crania, provides direct evidence for wide morphological variation within and among early Homo paleodemes. This implies the existence of a single evolving lineage of early Homo, with phylogeographic continuity across continents.
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48
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Van Arsdale AP. A Shifting Theoretical Framework for Biological Anthropology in 2012. AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/aman.12008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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50
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Migliano AB, Guillon M. The Effects of Mortality, Subsistence, and Ecology on Human Adult Height and Implications for Homo Evolution. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1086/667694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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