- Biological Anthropology, Human Evolution, Palaeoanthropology, Evolutionary Ecology, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Primatology, and 18 morePrimate Evolution, Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, Historical Archaeology, Systematics (Taxonomy), Archaeology, Africa, Evolutionary Psychology, Bioarchaeology, Paleoclimatology, Evolutionary Anthropology, Evolution and Human Behavior, Paleodiet, Long Bone Biomechanics, Paleoanthropology, Hominin evolution, Neanderthals, and Palaeoecologyedit
Understanding the factors shaping human crania has long been a goal of biological anthropology, and climate, diet, and population history are three of the most well-established influences. The effects of these factors are, however, rarely... more
Understanding the factors shaping human crania has long been a goal of biological anthropology, and climate, diet, and population history are three of the most well-established influences. The effects of these factors are, however, rarely compared within a single, variable population, limiting interpretations of their relative contribution to craniofacial form. Jomon prehistoric foragers inhabited Japan throughout its climatic and ecological range and developed correspondingly varied modes of subsistence. We have previously demonstrated that a large sample of Jomon crania showed no clear climatic pattern; here, we examine variation in Jomon crania in more detail to determine if dietary factors and/or population history influence human intrapopulation variation at this scale. Based on well-established archaeological differences, we divide the Jomon into dietary groups and use geometric morphometric methods to analyse relationships between cranial shape, diet, and population history. We find evidence for diet-related influences on the shape of the neurocranium, particularly in the temporalis region. These shape differences may be interpreted in the context of regional variation in the biomechanical requirements of different diets. More experimental biomechanical and nutritional evidence is needed, however, to move suggested links between dietary content and cranial shape from plausible to well-supported. In contrast with the global scale of human variation, where neutral processes are the strongest influence on cranial shape, we find no pattern of population history amongst individuals from these Jomon sites. The determinants of cranial morphology are complex and the effect of diet is likely mediated by factors including sex, social factors, and chronology. Our results underline the subtlety of the effects of dietary variation beyond the forager/farmer dichotomy on cranial morphology and contribute to our understanding of the complexity of selective pressures shaping human phenotypes on different geographic scales.
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Perforated shells are often used to study socially mediated behaviour in past hunter-gatherer groups. One of the key issues regarding empty shells from beaches or fossil outcrops is determining human agency in the accumulation and... more
Perforated shells are often used to study socially mediated behaviour in past hunter-gatherer groups. One of the key issues regarding empty shells from beaches or fossil outcrops is determining human agency in the accumulation and modification of an assemblage. Here we investigate anthropogenic mediation in Initial Upper Palaeolithic and Early Ahmarian assemblages of Columbella rustica at Ksâr 'Akil (Lebanon). We compare perforations in the archaeological specimens with data from newly gathered Columbellidae modern death assemblages from Tenerife (Spain) using three-dimensional shell-thickness models as templates. This approach, using micro-CT scans of pristine shells to map robust and fragile zones on shell outer-surfaces, allows us to contextualise the two datasets within their natural morphology. Our results show that in natural death assemblages the vast majority of perforations occur in structurally weak zones, and their distribution can be explained by shell morphology in combination with predator activity and other post-mortem damage. In our archaeological dataset we found a higher frequency of perforations in more robust zones and a higher uniformity in their location, size and shape. This suggests human mediation in either the selection or manufacture process of C. rustica beads at Ksâr 'Akil from as early as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic and throughout the Early Ahmarian. Standardisation in perforation shape, size and distribution have been argued to be indicative of formalised manufacture processes and our results are thus more congruent with intentional bead manufacture than the selection of naturally-holed specimens.
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The frontal sinuses are cavities inside the frontal bone located at the junction between the face and the cranial vault and close to the brain. Despite a long history of study, understanding of their origin and variation through evolution... more
The frontal sinuses are cavities inside the frontal bone located at the junction between the face and the cranial vault and close to the brain. Despite a long history of study, understanding of their origin and variation through evolution is limited. This work compares most hominin species’ holotypes and other key individuals with extant hominids. It provides a unique and valuable perspective of the variation in sinuses position, shape, and dimensions based on a simple and reproducible methodology. We also observed a covariation between the size and shape of the sinuses and the underlying frontal lobes in hominin species from at least the appearance of Homo erectus . Our results additionally undermine hypotheses stating that hominin frontal sinuses were directly affected by biomechanical constraints resulting from either chewing or adaptation to climate. Last, we demonstrate their substantial potential for discussions of the evolutionary relationships between hominin species.
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The cranium (Broken Hill 1 or BH1) from the site previously known as Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) is one of the best preserved hominin fossils from the mid-Pleistocene. Its distinctive combination of anatomical... more
The cranium (Broken Hill 1 or BH1) from the site previously known as Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) is one of the best preserved hominin fossils from the mid-Pleistocene. Its distinctive combination of anatomical features, however, makes its taxonomic attribution ambiguous. High resolution microCT, which has not previously been employed for gross morphological studies of this important specimen, allows a precise description of the internal anatomical features of BH1, including the distribution of cranial vault thickness and its 2 internal composition, paranasal pneumatisation, pneumatisation of the temporal bone and endocranial anatomy. Relative to other chronologically and taxonomically relevant specimens, BH1 shows unusually marked paranasal pneumatisation and a fairly thick cranial vault. For many of the features analysed, this fossil does not exhibit the apomorphic conditions observed in either Neandertals or Homo sapiens. Its morphology and the general shape...
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Perforated shells are often used to study socially mediated behavior in past hunter-gatherer groups. The assumption is that their exclusive symbolic function makes them ideally suited to investigate social networks, dispersal activity,... more
Perforated shells are often used to study socially mediated behavior in past hunter-gatherer groups. The assumption is that their exclusive symbolic function makes them ideally suited to investigate social networks, dispersal activity, and social interaction. Before making any statements regarding human behavior, however, it needs to be established whether perforated shells from archaeological assemblages were used as personal ornaments. One of the key issues regarding beach-collected marine taxa is whether beached specimens were purposefully collected, e.g., preferentially selected naturally holed specimens, or whether human-made perforations may be identified. Past studies have investigated these questions by comparing datasets from modern death assemblages of shells with archaeological collections and through manufacture and use-wear analysis (e.g., Bouzouggar et al. 2007; Vanhaeren et al. 2006) This study introduces a novel approach using μCT scans of pristine shells to create a...
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Maternal malnutrition during gestation and lactation is known to have adverse effects on offspring. We evaluate the impact of maternal diet on offspring bony labyrinth morphology. The bony labyrinth develops early and is thought to be... more
Maternal malnutrition during gestation and lactation is known to have adverse effects on offspring. We evaluate the impact of maternal diet on offspring bony labyrinth morphology. The bony labyrinth develops early and is thought to be stable to protect vital sensory organs within. For these reasons, bony labyrinth morphology has been used extensively to assess locomotion, hearing function, and phylogeny in primates and numerous other taxa. While variation related to these parameters has been documented, there is still a component of intraspecific variation that is unexplained. Although the labyrinthine developmental window is small, it may provide the opportunity for developmental instability to produce corresponding shape differences, as measured by fluctuating asymmetry (FA). We hypothesized that (1) offspring with poor maternal diet would exhibit increased FA, but (2) no unilateral shape difference. To test these hypotheses, we used two groups of rats (Rattus norvegicus; Crl:WI[Han] strain), one control group and one group exposed to a isocaloric, protein-restricted maternal diet during gestation and suckling. Individuals were sampled at weaning, sexual maturity, and old age. A Procrustes ANOVA identified statistically significant FA in all diet-age subgroups. No differences in level of FA were identified among the subgroups, rejecting our first hypothesis. A principal components analysis identified no unilateral shape differences, supporting our second hypothesis. These results indicate that bony labyrinth morphology is remarkably stable and likely protected from a poor maternal diet during development. In light of this result, other factors must be explored to explain intraspecific variation in labyrinthine shape.
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Haeusler et al. (1) suggest that our analysis (2) of the distribution of relative bone volume across the articular surface (figure 5) does not justify different taxonomic allocations or locomotor classifications. We agree with their first... more
Haeusler et al. (1) suggest that our analysis (2) of the distribution of relative bone volume across the articular surface (figure 5) does not justify different taxonomic allocations or locomotor classifications. We agree with their first suggestion, and we did not use these data to make direct arguments for the taxonomic attribution of either specimen in our paper. With regard to locomotor classifications, we note that our results “further [support] the inferred differences in loading between these two specimens as evidenced by their internal BV/TV distribution” (2). The strongest evidence for locomotor differences between StW 522 and StW 311 comes from the internal distribution of trabecular bone, which is not captured by the geometric … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: m.skinner{at}kent.ac.uk. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
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New ancient genomes from Africa provide details of the spread of food production across sub-Saharan Africa.
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Bipedalism is a defining trait of the hominin lineage, associated with a transition from a more arboreal to a more terrestrial environment. While there is debate about when modern human-like bipedalism first appeared in hominins, all... more
Bipedalism is a defining trait of the hominin lineage, associated with a transition from a more arboreal to a more terrestrial environment. While there is debate about when modern human-like bipedalism first appeared in hominins, all known South African hominins show morphological adaptations to bipedalism, suggesting that this was their predominant mode of locomotion. Here we present evidence that hominins preserved in the Sterkfontein Caves practiced two different locomotor repertoires. The trabecular structure of a proximal femur (StW 522) attributed to Australopithecus africanus exhibits a modern human-like bipedal locomotor pattern, while that of a geologically younger specimen (StW 311) attributed to either Homo sp. or Paranthropus robustus exhibits a pattern more similar to nonhuman apes, potentially suggesting regular bouts of both climbing and terrestrial bipedalism. Our results demonstrate distinct morphological differences, linked to behavioral differences between Austral...
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There is considerable variation in mid-late Pleistocene hominin paranasal sinuses, and in some taxa distinctive craniofacial shape has been linked to sinus size. Extreme frontal sinus size has been reported in mid-Pleistocene specimens... more
There is considerable variation in mid-late Pleistocene hominin paranasal sinuses, and in some taxa distinctive craniofacial shape has been linked to sinus size. Extreme frontal sinus size has been reported in mid-Pleistocene specimens often classified as Homo heidelbergensis, and Neanderthal sinuses are said to be distinctively large, explaining diagnostic Neanderthal facial shape. Here, the sinuses of fossil hominins attributed to several mid-late Pleistocene taxa were compared to those of recent H. sapiens. The sinuses were investigated to clarify differences in the extent of pneumatisation within this group and the relationship between sinus size and craniofacial variation in hominins from this time period. Frontal and maxillary sinus volumes were measured from CT data, and geometric morphometric methods were used to identify and analyse shape variables associated with sinus volume. Some mid-Pleistocene specimens were found to have extremely large frontal sinuses, supporting pre...
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Understanding the timing and character of the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa is critical for inferring the colonization and admixture processes that underpin global population history. It has been argued that dispersal out of... more
Understanding the timing and character of the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa is critical for inferring the colonization and admixture processes that underpin global population history. It has been argued that dispersal out of Africa had an early phase, particularly ~130-90 thousand years ago (ka), that reached only the East Mediterranean Levant, and a later phase, ~60-50 ka, that extended across the diverse environments of Eurasia to Sahul. However, recent findings from East Asia and Sahul challenge this model. Here we show that H. sapiens was in the Arabian Peninsula before 85 ka. We describe the Al Wusta-1 (AW-1) intermediate phalanx from the site of Al Wusta in the Nefud desert, Saudi Arabia. AW-1 is the oldest directly dated fossil of our species outside Africa and the Levant. The palaeoenvironmental context of Al Wusta demonstrates that H. sapiens using Middle Palaeolithic stone tools dispersed into Arabia during a phase of increased precipitation driven by orbital for...
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In 1912, palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward and amateur antiquarian and solicitor Charles Dawson announced the discovery of a fossil that supposedly provided a link between apes and humans: Eoanthropus dawsoni (Dawson's dawn man).... more
In 1912, palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward and amateur antiquarian and solicitor Charles Dawson announced the discovery of a fossil that supposedly provided a link between apes and humans: Eoanthropus dawsoni (Dawson's dawn man). The publication generated huge interest from scientists and the general public. However, ‘Piltdown man's’ initial celebrity has long been overshadowed by its subsequent infamy as one of the most famous scientific frauds in history. Our re-evaluation of the Piltdown fossils using the latest scientific methods (DNA analyses, high-precision measurements, spectroscopy and virtual anthropology) shows that it is highly likely that a single orang-utan specimen and at least two human specimens were used to create the fake fossils. The modus operandi was found consistent throughout the assemblage (specimens are stained brown, loaded with gravel fragments and restored using filling materials), linking all specimens from the Piltdown I and Piltdown II site...
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Diagnosing Homo sapiens is a critical question in the study of human evolution. Although what constitutes living members of our own species is straightforward, in the fossil record this is still a matter of much debate. The issue is... more
Diagnosing Homo sapiens is a critical question in the study of human evolution. Although what constitutes living members of our own species is straightforward, in the fossil record this is still a matter of much debate. The issue is complicated by questions of species diagnoses and ideas about the mode by which a new species is born, by the arguments surrounding the behavioural and cognitive separateness of the species, by the increasing appreciation of variation in the early African H. sapiens record and by new DNA evidence of hybridization with extinct species. This study synthesizes thinking on the fossils, archaeology and underlying evolutionary models of the last several decades with recent DNA results from both H. sapiens and fossil species. It is concluded that, although it may not be possible or even desirable to cleanly partition out a homogenous morphological description of recent H. sapiens in the fossil record, there are key, distinguishing morphological traits in the cranium, dentition and pelvis that can be usefully employed to diagnose the H. sapiens lineage. Increasing advances in retrieving and understanding relevant genetic data provide a complementary and perhaps potentially even more fruitful means of characterizing the differences between H. sapiens and its close relatives.
Research Interests: Systematics (Taxonomy), Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Human Evolution, Biology, and 14 moreHybridization, Medicine, Evolution and Human Behavior, DNA, Humans, Hominin evolution, Fossils, Homo Sapiens, Biological evolution, Phenotype, Early Homo sapiens, Origins of Modern Homo Sapiens, Biochemistry and cell biology, and Neanderthal DNA
Research Interests: Earth Sciences, Palaeolithic Archaeology, Lithic Technology, Neanderthals (Palaeolithic Archaeology), Acheulian (Archaeology), and 12 moreEvolution and Human Behavior, Middle Palaeolithic, Mis, Quaternary environments, History and archaeology, Acheulian, Handaxes, Quaternary Science Reviews, Achulian Culture And Human Migration, Late Pleistocene Middle, Middle Pleistocene environment, and Northwest European Lower/Middle Palaeolithic
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At the time of its excavation in 1861, the cave site of Long Hole (Gower peninsula, Swansea, UK) was recognized as important for establishing the antiquity of man in Wales. However, in comparison to its more illustrious neighbour Paviland... more
At the time of its excavation in 1861, the cave site of Long Hole (Gower peninsula, Swansea, UK) was recognized as important for establishing the antiquity of man in Wales. However, in comparison to its more illustrious neighbour Paviland Cave, it has received very little attention since. Long Hole has been host to three documented excavations: by Colonel Wood in the 1860s, by John Campbell in 1969 and most recently the small-scale work in 2012 described in this paper. Here we outline Long Hole’s excavations and the archaeological material from the cave. Although the site’s earliest collections suffer from the familiar problems of being significantly selected and lacking contextual information, several conclusions are possible. Previous suggestions of two late Neanderthal occupations are unconvincing. Lithic artefacts from Long Hole are instead reminiscent of Aurignacian material from Paviland Cave, suggesting that they were left by some of Britain’s very early modern human occupant...
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Our current knowledge of the emergence of anatomically modern humans, and the human lineage in general, is limited, in large part because of the lack of a well preserved and well dated fossil record from Pleistocene Africa. Thus, the... more
Our current knowledge of the emergence of anatomically modern humans, and the human lineage in general, is limited, in large part because of the lack of a well preserved and well dated fossil record from Pleistocene Africa. Thus, the primary aim of our research is to partly relieve this problem by virtually reconstructing and analyzing the hominin cranial remains of Kabua 1, found in Kenya in the 1950s. Most scholars have argued that Kabua 1 represents an anatomically modern Homo sapiens, although the fragmentary nature of the remains and lack of a chronometric date hinder robust phylogenetic and taxonomic assessments. This manuscript presents the first steps taken to resolve this issue, namely a set of reconstructions of the specimen that would allow comparison with the fossil record. First, we virtually removed sediment and laboratory adhesives from μct scans of the fragments. Subsequently, all fragments were separated by segmentation of the μct data and described. Finally, virtua...
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Questions surrounding the timing, extent, and evolutionary consequences of archaic admixture into human populations have a long history in evolutionary anthropology. More recently, advances in human genetics, particularly in the field of... more
Questions surrounding the timing, extent, and evolutionary consequences of archaic admixture into human populations have a long history in evolutionary anthropology. More recently, advances in human genetics, particularly in the field of ancient DNA, have shed new light on the question of whether or not Homo sapiens interbred with other hominin groups. By the late 1990s, published genetic work had largely concluded that archaic groups made no lasting genetic contribution to modern humans; less than a decade later, this conclusion was reversed following the successful DNA
sequencing of an ancient Neanderthal. This reversal of consensus is noteworthy, but the reasoning behind it is not widely understood across all academic communities. There remains a communication gap between population geneticists and paleoanthropologists.
In this review, we endeavor to bridge this gap by outlining how technological advancements, new statistical methods, and notable controversies ultimately led to the current consensus.
sequencing of an ancient Neanderthal. This reversal of consensus is noteworthy, but the reasoning behind it is not widely understood across all academic communities. There remains a communication gap between population geneticists and paleoanthropologists.
In this review, we endeavor to bridge this gap by outlining how technological advancements, new statistical methods, and notable controversies ultimately led to the current consensus.
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Definition: A controversial Middle Pleistocene (~780-130 ka) hominin species, part of the same genus (Homo) as extant humans. Introduction: The taxonomy and phylogeny of Homo heidelbergensis is much debated (for a review see Stringer,... more
Definition: A controversial Middle Pleistocene (~780-130 ka) hominin species, part of the same genus (Homo) as extant humans. Introduction: The taxonomy and phylogeny of Homo heidelbergensis is much debated (for a review see Stringer, 2012), so much so that this period in human evolution has been dubbed the 'muddle in the Middle [Pleistocene]'. There is little agreement on which specimens should be included in H. heidelbergensis (that is to say, the group of specimens which constitute what is known as its 'hypodigm'), nor even whether it constitutes a valid species at all. Many Middle Pleistocene hominins (taxa more closely related to H. sapiens than to chimpanzees) share primitive features with earlier species, such as H. erectus, but also share derived traits with later Pleistocene specimens such as H. sapiens and Neanderthals (e.g., Rightmire, 2013). This mosaic morphology has led researchers to group them together as a single Afro-European species designation: H. heidelbergensis. Some have also suggested that additional Asian Middle Pleistocene fossils may extend the range of H. heidelbergensis (e.g., Stringer, 2012). One reason for the great interest in H. heidelbergensis is that the Middle Pleistocene is the epoch during which the H. sapiens lineage split from our sister taxa, the Neanderthals and Denisovans and H. heidelbergensis has long been considered a possible last common ancestor (LCA) for these two lineages (Buck & Stringer, 2014; Mounier et al., 2009; Rightmire, 2008; Stringer, 2012). Knowing the identity of the LCA would allow us to see which differences between our own species and Neanderthals are derived in which lineage, enabling us to better understand our own evolution and that of our closest relatives.