Relationship between dental development and skeletal growth in modern humans and its implications for interpreting ontogeny in fossil hominins

2012 ◽  
Vol 150 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Šešelj
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Growth ◽  
Dental Development ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Fossil Hominins

scholarly journals Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habiba Chirchir ◽  
Tracy L. Kivell ◽  
Christopher B. Ruff ◽  
Jean-Jacques Hublin ◽  
Kristian J. Carlson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Trabecular Bone ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Human Skeleton ◽  
Trabecular Density ◽  
Fossil Hominins

Humans are unique, compared with our closest living relatives (chimpanzees) and early fossil hominins, in having an enlarged body size and lower limb joint surfaces in combination with a relatively gracile skeleton (i.e., lower bone mass for our body size). Some analyses have observed that in at least a few anatomical regions modern humans today appear to have relatively low trabecular density, but little is known about how that density varies throughout the human skeleton and across species or how and when the present trabecular patterns emerged over the course of human evolution. Here, we test the hypotheses that (i) recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the upper and lower limbs compared with other primate taxa and (ii) the reduction in trabecular density first occurred in early Homo erectus, consistent with the shift toward a modern human locomotor anatomy, or more recently in concert with diaphyseal gracilization in Holocene humans. We used peripheral quantitative CT and microtomography to measure trabecular bone of limb epiphyses (long bone articular ends) in modern humans and chimpanzees and in fossil hominins attributed to Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus/early Homo from Swartkrans, Homo neanderthalensis, and early Homo sapiens. Results show that only recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the limb joints. Extinct hominins, including pre-Holocene Homo sapiens, retain the high levels seen in nonhuman primates. Thus, the low trabecular density of the recent modern human skeleton evolved late in our evolutionary history, potentially resulting from increased sedentism and reliance on technological and cultural innovations.

Correlation of Dental Maturity with Skeletal Maturity from Radiographic Assessment

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Morris ◽  
Jae Hyun Park
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Maturity ◽  
Skeletal Development ◽  
Skeletal Growth ◽  
Dental Development ◽  
Radiographic Assessment ◽  
Additional Radiation ◽  
Dental Radiographs ◽  
Radiographic Interpretation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Dental Maturity

There have been many attempts to correlate dental development with skeletal growth. The relationship is generally considered to be moderate at best. However, there is evidence that hand-wrist radiographic interpretation of remaining growth can be augmented by taking into account the developing dentition. In addition, the practicality of evaluating routine dental radiographs and avoiding additional radiation is advantageous. To this point, no system has been described to match apical development by Demirjian’s stages and compare it to skeletal development and remaining growth. This study reviewed articles pertinent to the relationship between developing teeth and skeletal maturity and remaining growth, and a system is proposed to give practitioners an additional assessment for growth and development.

scholarly journals Intra-individual metameric variation expressed at the enamel-dentine junction of lower post-canine dentition of South African fossil hominins and modern humans

2017 ◽  
Vol 163 (4) ◽  
pp. 806-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Pan ◽  
John Francis Thackeray ◽  
Jean Dumoncel ◽  
Clément Zanolli ◽  
Anna Oettlé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Fossil Hominins

scholarly journals Early life of Neanderthals

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (46) ◽  
pp. 28719-28726
Author(s):  
Alessia Nava ◽  
Federico Lugli ◽  
Matteo Romandini ◽  
Federica Badino ◽  
David Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Deciduous Teeth ◽  
Dental Development ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Spatially Resolved ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Northeastern Italy ◽  
Sample Set

The early onset of weaning in modern humans has been linked to the high nutritional demand of brain development that is intimately connected with infant physiology and growth rate. In Neanderthals, ontogenetic patterns in early life are still debated, with some studies suggesting an accelerated development and others indicating only subtle differences vs. modern humans. Here we report the onset of weaning and rates of enamel growth using an unprecedented sample set of three late (∼70 to 50 ka) Neanderthals and one Upper Paleolithic modern human from northeastern Italy via spatially resolved chemical/isotopic analyses and histomorphometry of deciduous teeth. Our results reveal that the modern human nursing strategy, with onset of weaning at 5 to 6 mo, was present among these Neanderthals. This evidence, combined with dental development akin to modern humans, highlights their similar metabolic constraints during early life and excludes late weaning as a factor contributing to Neanderthals’ demise.

Dental and skeletal growth in early fossil hominins

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 545-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Christopher Dean ◽  
Victoria S. Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Growth ◽  
Fossil Hominins

scholarly journals Retrieving chronological age from dental remains of early fossil hominins to reconstruct human growth in the past

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1556) ◽  
pp. 3397-3410 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Christopher Dean
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Growth ◽  
Human Growth ◽  
Growth Period ◽  
Developmental Model ◽  
Dental Development ◽  
Fossil Hominins ◽  
Total Growth ◽  
Crown Formation ◽  
Fossil Hominin ◽  
Compare And Contrast

A chronology of dental development in Pan troglodytes is arguably the best available model with which to compare and contrast reconstructed dental chronologies of the earliest fossil hominins. Establishing a time scale for growth is a requirement for being able to make further comparative observations about timing and rate during both dento-skeletal growth and brain growth. The absolute timing of anterior tooth crown and root formation appears not to reflect the period of somatic growth. In contrast, the molar dentition best reflects changes to the total growth period. Earlier initiation of molar mineralization, shorter crown formation times, less root length formed at gingival emergence into functional occlusion are cumulatively expressed as earlier ages at molar eruption. Things that are similar in modern humans and Pan , such as the total length of time taken to form individual teeth, raise expectations that these would also have been the same in fossil hominins. The best evidence there is from the youngest fossil hominin specimens suggests a close resemblance to the model for Pan but also hints that Gorilla may be a better developmental model for some. A mosaic of great ape-like features currently best describes the timing of early hominin dental development.

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