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Xing S, Tafforeau P, O’Hara M, Modesto-Mata M, Martín-Francés L, Martinón-Torres M, Zhang L, Schepartz LA, de Castro JMB, Guatelli-Steinberg D. First systematic assessment of dental growth and development in an archaic hominin (genus, Homo) from East Asia. Sci Adv 2019; 5:eaau0930. [PMID: 30746445 PMCID: PMC6357757 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau0930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2018] [Accepted: 12/06/2018] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Several human dental traits typical of modern humans appear to be associated with the prolonged period of development that is a key human attribute. Understanding when, and in which early hominins, these dental traits first appeared is thus of strong interest. Using x-ray multiresolution synchrotron phase-contrast microtomography, we quantify dental growth and development in an archaic Homo juvenile from the Xujiayao site in northern China dating to 161,000-224,000 years or 104,000-125,000 years before present. Despite the archaic morphology of Xujiayao hominins, most aspects of dental development of this juvenile fall within modern human ranges (e.g., prolonged crown formation time and delayed first molar eruption). For its estimated age-at-death (6.5 years), its state of dental development is comparable to that of equivalently aged modern children. These findings suggest that several facets of modern human dental growth and development evolved in East Asia before the appearance of fully modern human morphology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Song Xing
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Paul Tafforeau
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, CS-40220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex 09, France
| | - Mackie O’Hara
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Mario Modesto-Mata
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
- Equipo Primeros Pobladores de Extremadura, Casa de la Cultura Rodríguez Moñino, Av. Cervantes s/n, 10003 Cáceres, Spain
- Anthropology Department, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Laura Martín-Francés
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
- UMR 5189 PACEA Université de Bordeaux, CNRS MCC, Bordeaux, France
| | - María Martinón-Torres
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
- Anthropology Department, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Limin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Lynne A. Schepartz
- HVIRU, School of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
| | - José María Bermúdez de Castro
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
- Anthropology Department, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Department of Anthropology/Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR, UK
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