The cranial base and related internal anatomical features in Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Balzeau ◽  
Anthony Pagano
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Cranial Base ◽  
Anatomical Features ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis

Evolution of Cranial and Endocranial Profiles inHomoSpecies: a Study in 2D Geometric Morphometrics

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 118-131
Author(s):  
L. Albessard ◽  
D. Grimaud-Hervé ◽  
A. Balzeau
Keyword(s):  
Geometric Morphometrics ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cranial Bone ◽  
Cranial Morphology ◽  
Anatomical Features ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Object Of Study

Cranial anatomical features play a prominent part in the definition of extinctHomotaxa and in species identification in fossils. Thus, knowledge of cranial morphology considered within its geochronological framework is essential to the understanding of the evolution, chronology, and dispersal of the genusHomo. The brain is also a valuable object of study for research on human evolution, because of features such as its large size and a high encephalization quotient in someHomospecies, as well as the complexity of human cognition. However, the joint evolution of endo- and ectocranial anatomies is still little studied, and landmarks representing cerebral anatomy rather than inner cranial bone anatomy are still rarely used. This exploratory piece of research examines endo- and ectocranial profiles in samples representing 3Homotaxa:Homo sapiens(fossil and recent specimens),Homo erectus, andHomo neanderthalensis. We used 2D geometric morphometrics to analyze the shape of the endo- and ectocranial vaults, as well as the relationships between selected anatomical features such as the extension of lobes and bones. The shapes of the vaults were computed using both fixed landmarks and sliding semi-landmarks. The fixed landmarks used for the endocranium were chosen in order to represent cerebral anatomy, in that they are defined by the imprints left by brain structures on the inner bone surface of the skull, and not by bony structures such as the inferior side of cranial sutures. Among other results, we have shown or confirmed specific features in the shape of the endocranium inHomo sapiens, as well as a few differences in the patterns of interplay between lobes and bones. These data, and any further results obtained with larger samples, may provide new insights into the development of the endocranial anatomical pattern inHomo sapiensand of its variability.

Neanderthals and modern humans

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco J. Ayala ◽  
Camilo J. Cela-Conde
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Differentiation ◽  
Nuclear Dna ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Modern Mind ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Mode 3

This chapter deals with the similarities and differences between Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens, by considering genetic, brain, and cognitive evidence. The genetic differentiation emerges from fossil genetic evidence obtained first from mtDNA and later from nuclear DNA. With high throughput whole genome sequencing, sequences have been obtained from the Denisova Cave (Siberia) fossils. Nuclear DNA of a third species (“Denisovans”) has been obtained from the same cave and used to define the phylogenetic relationships among the three species during the Upper Palaeolithic. Archaeological comparisons make it possible to advance a four-mode model of the evolution of symbolism. Neanderthals and modern humans would share a “modern mind” as defined up to Symbolic Mode 3. Whether the Neanderthals reached symbolic Mode 4 remains unsettled.

Hominin transition to Upper Pliocene

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco J. Ayala ◽  
Camilo J. Cela-Conde
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Evolutionary Significance ◽  
Australopithecus Afarensis ◽  
Phylogenetic Significance ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Surprising Discovery

This chapter analyzes the transition of the hominins from the Middle Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene. Two alternative models are explored, the “Multiregional Hypothesis” (MH) and the “Replacement Hypothesis,” and how each model evaluates the existing relationships between the taxa Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. Next is the investigation of the transitional (or “archaic,” if this grade is taken into account) exemplars found in Europe, Africa, and Asia and their evolutionary significance. In particular, the comparison between H. erectus and H. sapiens in China and Java is investigated, as the main foundation of the MH. The chapter ends with the surprising discovery of Homo floresiensis and its description and interpretations concerning its taxonomic and phylogenetic significance. The correlation between brain development and technological progress is at odds with the attribution of perforators, microblades, and fishing hooks to a hominin with a small cranial volume, similar to that of Australopithecus afarensis.

scholarly journals Arguments that Prehistorical and Modern Humans Belong to the Same Species

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Kühne
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Out Of Africa

I argue that the evidence of the Out-of-Africa hypothesis and the evidence of multiregional evolution of prehistorical humans can be understood if there has been interbreeding between Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens at least during the preceding 700,000 years. These interbreedings require descendants who are capable of reproduction and therefore parents who belong to the same species. I suggest that a number of prehistorical humans who are at present regarded as belonging to different species belong in fact to one single species.  

A portrait of the person as an ancient artist

2006 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
John G. F. Wilks
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Artistic Expression ◽  
Artistic Creativity ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Creative Methods ◽  
Human Creativity ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
Artistic Merit

This article explores the implications of personhood from artistic creativity. An investigation of the models of divine creative methods portrayed in Genesis 1 suggests that human creativity is comparable to that employed by God on days 5 and 6, where the waters and the earth are reshaped to produce something new. Consideration of Paleolithic rock art shows just how ancient artistic expression is, and that it is something unique to Homo sapiens, with no evidence that Homo neanderthalensis was artistically creative. The importance of artistic creativity within a community has further implications for our investigation of personhood. Even if the artistic merit of the art produced is far short of great, the desire to express oneself artistically is widespread.

Birth and Death of the Holocene

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Zalasiewicz ◽  
Mark Williams
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Quaternary Period ◽  
Climate Oscillations ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Droughts And Floods ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
Place Of Origin ◽  
The Many

It is just the latest of many climate phases of the Quaternary Period. The 103rd major shift in climate-driven global oxygen isotope values, to be precise, since the official-designated beginning of the Quaternary Period, 2.58 million years ago. And, many of those major phases, as we have seen, include dozens of climate oscillations far greater in scale than humans have witnessed since written records began. Nevertheless, it is our warm phase, that within which our civilization has grown, and hence it has been separated as a distinct epoch, the Holocene, a little over 0.01 of a million years long. Its counterpart is the Pleistocene Epoch, in which reside those other 2.57 million years of Quaternary time, and those other 102 major climate oscillations. Thus, we live—at least as far as formal geological nomenclature goes—in a privileged time. When this epoch began, Homo sapiens had already existed for some 150,000 years. As a species its prospects might not have seemed bright: this creature lacked anything terribly impressive in the way of claws or teeth or thick fur or armour. But by being ingenious at developing what one might describe as artificial claws and teeth—axes and spears and arrows—it could kill and eat mammals considerably larger than itself. In those early days, it might not have prospered, exactly, but it clung to existence, seemingly weathering at least one very bad patch, several tens of thousands of years ago, when its numbers dropped almost to extinction levels. It survived the climate oscillations of the late Pleistocene—the droughts and floods and episodes of bitter cold and killing heat—by adapting its behaviour or migrating as best it could. Its migrations from its place of origin, Africa, were on an epic scale. The many thousands of individual and collective stories of hope, fear, endurance, courage, tragedy, and (less commonly) triumph are all lost. What remains is the evidence that humans, by the beginning of the Holocene, had spread widely over Europe and Asia, ousting (it seems) their kindred hominin species, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo erectus.

scholarly journals Taxonomic differences in deciduous lower first molar crown outlines of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis

2020 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
pp. 102864
Author(s):  
S.E. Bailey ◽  
R. Sorrentino ◽  
G. Mancuso ◽  
J.-J. Hublin ◽  
S. Benazzi
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis

Evidence suggesting that Homo neanderthalensis contributed the H2 MAPT haplotype to Homo sapiens

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 582-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hardy ◽  
A. Pittman ◽  
A. Myers ◽  
K. Gwinn-Hardy ◽  
H.C. Fung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Linkage Disequilibrium ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disease ◽  
Sequence Comparison ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Linkage Disequilibrium Structure ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Common Founder ◽  
The Common

The tau (MAPT) locus exists as two distinct clades, H1 and H2. The H1 clade has a normal linkage disequilibrium structure and is the only haplotype found in all populations except those derived from Caucasians. The H2 haplotype is the minor haplotype in Caucasian populations and is not found in other populations. It shows no recombination over a region of 2 Mb with the more common H1 haplotype. The distribution of the haplotype and analysis of the slippage of dinucleotide repeat markers within the haplotype suggest that it entered Homo sapiens populations between approx. 10000 and 30000 years ago. However, sequence comparison of the H2 haplotype with the H1 haplotype and with the chimp sequence suggests that the common founder of the H1 and H2 haplotypes was far earlier than this. We suggest that the H2 haplotype is derived from Homo neanderthalensis and entered H. sapiens populations during the co-existence of these species in Europe from approx. 45000 to 18000 years ago and that the H2 haplotype has been under selection pressure since that time, possibly because of the role of this H1 haplotype in neurodegenerative disease.

scholarly journals Tooth chipping patterns in Paranthropus do not support regular hard food mastication

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Towle ◽  
Joel D. Irish ◽  
Carolina Loch
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Behaviour ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Australopithecus Africanus ◽  
Extant Primate ◽  
Craniofacial Features ◽  
Fossil Hominin

AbstractThe paranthropines, including Paranthropus boisei and Paranthropus robustus, have often been considered hard-food specialists. The large post-canine teeth, thick enamel, and robust craniofacial features are often suggested to have evolved to cope with habitual mastication of hard foods. Yet, direct evidence for Paranthropus feeding behaviour often challenges these morphological interpretations. The main exception being antemortem tooth chipping which is still regularly used as evidence of habitual mastication of hard foods in this genus. In this study, data were compiled from the literature for six hominin species (including P. boisei and P. robustus) and 17 extant primate species, to analyse Paranthropus chipping patterns in a broad comparative framework. Severity of fractures, position on the dentition, and overall prevalence were compared among species. The results indicate that both Paranthropus species had a lower prevalence of tooth fractures compared to other fossil hominin species (P. boisei: 4%; P. robustus: 11%; Homo naledi: 37%; Australopithecus africanus: 17%; Homo neanderthalensis: 45%; Epipalaeolithic Homo sapiens: 29%); instead, their frequencies are similar to apes that masticate hard items in a non-regular frequency, including chimpanzees, gibbons, and gorillas (4%, 7% and 9% respectively). The prevalence is several times lower than in extant primates known to habitually consume hard items, such as sakis, mandrills, and sooty mangabeys (ranging from 28% to 48%). Comparative chipping analysis suggests that both Paranthropus species were unlikely habitual hard object eaters, at least compared to living durophage analogues.

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