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Pablos A, Arsuaga JL. Metatarsals and foot phalanges from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2024. [PMID: 38380556 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
This study provides a complete, updated and illustrated inventory, as well as a comprehensive study, of the metatarsals and foot phalanges (forefoot) recovered from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (SH, Atapuerca, Spain) in comparison to other Homo comparative samples, both extant and fossils. This current updated review has established a minimum number of individuals (MNI) of 17, which represent 58.6% of the 29 dental individuals identified within the SH sample. An exclusive or autoapomorphic combination of traits can be recognized within the SH hominin foot sample. A few traits appear primitive or plesiomorphic when compared with earlier Homo individuals and other recent modern humans. There are other metrical and morphological traits that SH hominins and Neandertals have in common that sometimes represent shared derived traits in this evolutionary line, most of which are probably related to robusticity. Furthermore, some exclusive autoapomorphic traits are observed in the SH sample: a very broad first metatarsal, long and broad hallucal proximal foot phalanges and possibly extremely robust lateral distal foot phalanges compared to those of Neandertals and modern humans. In these last traits, the SH metatarsals and pedal phalanges are even more robust than in Neandertals. They are herein named as "hyper-Neandertal" traits, which could suggest a slight gracilization process in this evolutionary line, at least in the hallux toe. Finally, some paleobiological inferences are made in relation to body size (stature and body mass) and some associations are proposed within the SH sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrián Pablos
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
- Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain
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Morrissey P, Mentzer SM, Wurz S. The stratigraphy and formation of Middle Stone Age deposits in Cave 1B, Klasies River Main site, South Africa, with implications for the context, age, and cultural association of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP 6222 human mandible. J Hum Evol 2023; 183:103414. [PMID: 37660505 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Cave 1B, in the Klasies River Main site complex (KRM), is best known for the recovery of the KRM 41815/SAM-AP 6222 human mandible. After initial skepticism over the modernity of this specimen, it is accepted that the mix of archaic and modern traits it displays is characteristic of early Homo sapiens individuals. Different authors have associated this specimen with the Middle Stone Age (MSA) I and II/Mossel Bay cultural phases, but the published data do not allow an unambiguous attribution. KRM 41815's frequent use in studies of the evolution of the human mandible, and its well-developed chin, makes clarifying its age and context important objectives. The field and micromorphology observations presented here provide greater insight into the stratigraphy and formation of the sequence exposed in the PP38 excavation. There are three major divisions: the basal Light Brown Sand (LBS) Member (not excavated), the Rubble Sand (RS) Member (MSA I), and the Shell and Sand Dark Carbonized (SASDC) Submember (MSA II). Cultural stratigraphy based on lithic artifacts remains the only way to make secure (but broad) temporal correlations with the rest of the site complex. This investigation shows that a range of anthropogenic, geogenic, and biogenic processes contributed to the deposition and post-depositional alteration of the identified microfacies. Short depositional hiatuses are reasonably common, and a significant hiatus was identified between the RS and SASDC. The impact of post-depositional processes on the RS is significant, with anthropogenic deposits poorly preserved. In comparison, the SASDC is dominated by hearths contained within deposits rich in reworked anthropogenic materials known as carbonized partings. Small shell disposal features are also present. The distribution of these anthropogenic features suggests continuity in the management of space throughout the MSA II occupations, from before 110 ka. New stratigraphic correlations indicate that KRM 41815 is unambiguously associated with the MSA I. Therefore, it predates 110 ka, with a lower age limit potentially in Marine Isotope Stage 6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Morrissey
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
| | - Susan M Mentzer
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Sarah Wurz
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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Grine FE, Gonzalvo E, Rossouw L, Holt S, Black W, Braga J. Variation in Middle Stone Age mandibular molar enamel-dentine junction topography at Klasies River Main Site assessed by diffeomorphic surface matching. J Hum Evol 2021; 161:103079. [PMID: 34739985 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Revised: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The morphology and variability of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) hominin fossils from Klasies River Main Site have been the focus of investigation for more than four decades. The mandibular remains have figured prominently in discussions relating to robusticity, size dimorphism, and symphyseal morphology. Variation in corpus size between the robust SAM-AP 6223 and the diminutive SAM-AP 6225 mandibles is particularly impressive, and the difference between the buccolingual diameters of their M2s significantly exceeds recent human sample variation. SAM-AP 6223 and SAM-AP 6225 are the only Klasies specimens with homologous teeth (M2 and M3) that permit comparisons of crown morphology. While the differences in dental trait expression at the outer enamel surfaces of these molars are slight, diffeomorphic surface analyses of their underlying enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) topographies reveal differences that are well beyond the means of pairwise differences among comparative samples of Later Stone Age (LSA) Khoesan and recent African homologues. The EDJs of both SAM-AP 6225 molars and the SAM-AP 6223 M3 fall outside the envelopes that define the morphospace of these two samples. Although the radiocarbon dated LSA individuals examined here differ by a maximum of some 7000 years, and the two Klasies jaws may differ by perhaps as much as 18,000 years, it is difficult to ascribe their differences to time alone. With reference to the morphoscopic traits by which the SAM-AP 6223 and SAM-AP 6225 EDJs differ, the most striking is the expression of the protoconid cingulum. This is very weakly developed on the SAM-AP 6223 molars and distinct in SAM-AP 6225. As such, this diminutive fossil exhibits a more pronounced manifestation of what is likely a plesiomorphic feature, thus adding to the morphological mosaicism that is evident in the Klasies hominin assemblage. Several possible explanations for the variation and mosaicism in this MSA sample are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA.
| | - Elsa Gonzalvo
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, France
| | - Lloyd Rossouw
- Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, The National Museum, 36 Aliwal Street, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
| | - Sharon Holt
- Florisbad Quaternary Research Department, The National Museum, 36 Aliwal Street, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
| | - Wendy Black
- Archaeology Unit, Research and Exhibitions Department, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - José Braga
- Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, Toulouse, France; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
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Cameron ME, Pfeiffer S, Stock J. Small body size phenotypes among Middle and Later Stone Age Southern Africans. J Hum Evol 2021; 152:102943. [PMID: 33571806 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Modern humans originated between 300 and 200 ka in structured populations throughout Africa, characterized by regional interaction and diversity. Acknowledgment of this complex Pleistocene population structure raises new questions about the emergence of phenotypic diversity. Holocene Southern African Later Stone Age (LSA) skeletons and descendant Khoe-San peoples have small adult body sizes that may reflect long-term adaptation to the Cape environment. Pleistocene Southern African adult body sizes are not well characterized, but some postcranial elements are available. The most numerous Pleistocene postcranial skeletal remains come from Klasies River Mouth on the Southern Cape coast of South Africa. We compare the morphology of these skeletal elements with globally sampled Holocene groups encompassing diverse adult body sizes and shapes (n = 287) to investigate whether there is evidence for phenotypic patterning. The adult Klasies River Mouth bones include most of a lumbar vertebra, and portions of a left clavicle, left proximal radius, right proximal ulna, and left first metatarsal. Linear dimensions, shape characteristics, and cross-sectional geometric properties of the Klasies River Mouth elements were compared using univariate and multivariate methods. Between-group principal component analyses group Klasies River Mouth elements, except the proximal ulna, with LSA Southern Africans. The similarity is driven by size. Klasies River Mouth metatarsal cross-sectional geometric properties indicate similar torsional and compressive strength to those from LSA Southern Africans. Phenotypic expressions of small-bodied adult morphology in Marine Isotope Stages 5 and 1 suggest this phenotype may represent local convergent adaptation to life in the Cape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle E Cameron
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S2, Canada.
| | - Susan Pfeiffer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S2, Canada; Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa; Department of Anthropology and Center for Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Science and Engineering Hall, 800 22nd St NW, Suite 6000, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Jay Stock
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3QG, UK; Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, UK; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Str. 10, Jena, 07745, Germany
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Human manual distal phalanges from the Middle Stone Age deposits of Klasies River Main Site, Western Cape Province, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2020; 146:102849. [PMID: 32721654 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Revised: 06/11/2020] [Accepted: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Two new distal manual phalanges from the Middle Stone Age deposits of Klasies River Main Site are described. One (SAM-AP 6387) likely derives from ray II or ray III, whereas the other (SAM-AP 6388) is from the thumb. Both derive from a late adolescent or fully adult individual. They were recovered by H. Deacon from the same stratigraphic unit (submember W or possibly submember R) of the Shell and Sand Member of Cave 1, which places them between 100 and 90 ka. Both are comparatively small elements, and the possibility that they came from the same hand cannot be discounted at this time. These bones add to the meager and all too fragmentary postcranial human fossil sample from the Late Pleistocene of South Africa. These two specimens provide some additional evidence pertaining to the morphological attributes of the distal phalanges of the Middle Stone Age inhabitants of South Africa. Together with the distal pollical phalanx from Die Kelders (SAM-AP 6402), they are relatively small in comparison with homologs from recent human samples as well as Late Pleistocene specimens from Eurasia. Given their small sizes, the distal pollical phalanges from Klasies and Die Kelders are not dissimilar to Holocene Khoesan homologs. As expected, the Klasies elements differ noticeably from Neandertal homologs, especially in the narrowness of their shafts and distal tuberosities.
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Abstract
Recent work suggests human physiology is not well adapted to prolonged periods of inactivity, with time spent sitting increasing cardiovascular disease and mortality risk. Health risks from sitting are generally linked with reduced levels of muscle contractions in chair-sitting postures and associated reductions in muscle metabolism. These inactivity-associated health risks are somewhat paradoxical, since evolutionary pressures tend to favor energy-minimizing strategies, including rest. Here, we examined inactivity in a hunter-gatherer population (the Hadza of Tanzania) to understand how sedentary behaviors occur in a nonindustrial economic context more typical of humans' evolutionary history. We tested the hypothesis that nonambulatory rest in hunter-gatherers involves increased muscle activity that is different from chair-sitting sedentary postures used in industrialized populations. Using a combination of objectively measured inactivity from thigh-worn accelerometers, observational data, and electromygraphic data, we show that hunter-gatherers have high levels of total nonambulatory time (mean ± SD = 9.90 ± 2.36 h/d), similar to those found in industrialized populations. However, nonambulatory time in Hadza adults often occurs in postures like squatting, and we show that these "active rest" postures require higher levels of lower limb muscle activity than chair sitting. Based on our results, we introduce the Inactivity Mismatch Hypothesis and propose that human physiology is likely adapted to more consistently active muscles derived from both physical activity and from nonambulatory postures with higher levels of muscle contraction. Interventions built on this model may help reduce the negative health impacts of inactivity in industrialized populations.
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DeSilva J, McNutt E, Benoit J, Zipfel B. One small step: A review of Plio‐Pleistocene hominin foot evolution. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 168 Suppl 67:63-140. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Revised: 10/01/2018] [Accepted: 10/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy DeSilva
- Department of AnthropologyDartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of GeosciencesUniversity of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa
| | - Ellison McNutt
- Department of AnthropologyDartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire
| | - Julien Benoit
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of GeosciencesUniversity of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa
| | - Bernhard Zipfel
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of GeosciencesUniversity of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa
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Grine FE, Wurz S, Marean CW. The Middle Stone Age human fossil record from Klasies River Main Site. J Hum Evol 2017; 103:53-78. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2016] [Revised: 12/01/2016] [Accepted: 12/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Grine FE. The Late Quaternary Hominins of Africa: The Skeletal Evidence from MIS 6-2. AFRICA FROM MIS 6-2 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Harvati K, Bauer CC, Grine FE, Benazzi S, Ackermann RR, van Niekerk KL, Henshilwood CS. A human deciduous molar from the Middle Stone Age (Howiesons Poort) of Klipdrift Shelter, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2015; 82:190-6. [PMID: 25883050 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2014] [Revised: 03/07/2015] [Accepted: 03/10/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Katerina Harvati
- Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, Tübingen 72070, Germany.
| | - Catherine C Bauer
- Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 23, Tübingen 72070, Germany
| | - Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794-4364 New York, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794-4364 New York, USA
| | - Stefano Benazzi
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121 Ravenna, Italy; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Karen L van Niekerk
- Institute for Archaeology, History, Culture and Religious Studies, University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, N-5007 Bergen, Norway; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Christopher S Henshilwood
- Institute for Archaeology, History, Culture and Religious Studies, University of Bergen, Øysteinsgate 3, N-5007 Bergen, Norway; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Rito T, Richards MB, Fernandes V, Alshamali F, Cerny V, Pereira L, Soares P. The first modern human dispersals across Africa. PLoS One 2013; 8:e80031. [PMID: 24236171 PMCID: PMC3827445 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2013] [Accepted: 09/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of more refined chronologies for climate change and archaeology in prehistoric Africa, and for the evolution of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), now make it feasible to test more sophisticated models of early modern human dispersals suggested by mtDNA distributions. Here we have generated 42 novel whole-mtDNA genomes belonging to haplogroup L0, the most divergent clade in the maternal line of descent, and analysed them alongside the growing database of African lineages belonging to L0's sister clade, L1'6. We propose that the last common ancestor of modern human mtDNAs (carried by "mitochondrial Eve") possibly arose in central Africa ~180 ka, at a time of low population size. By ~130 ka two distinct groups of anatomically modern humans co-existed in Africa: broadly, the ancestors of many modern-day Khoe and San populations in the south and a second central/eastern African group that includes the ancestors of most extant worldwide populations. Early modern human dispersals correlate with climate changes, particularly the tropical African "megadroughts" of MIS 5 (marine isotope stage 5, 135-75 ka) which paradoxically may have facilitated expansions in central and eastern Africa, ultimately triggering the dispersal out of Africa of people carrying haplogroup L3 ~60 ka. Two south to east migrations are discernible within haplogroup LO. One, between 120 and 75 ka, represents the first unambiguous long-range modern human dispersal detected by mtDNA and might have allowed the dispersal of several markers of modernity. A second one, within the last 20 ka signalled by L0d, may have been responsible for the spread of southern click-consonant languages to eastern Africa, contrary to the view that these eastern examples constitute relicts of an ancient, much wider distribution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Rito
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
| | - Martin B. Richards
- School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, QueensGate, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
| | - Verónica Fernandes
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
- Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Farida Alshamali
- Dubai Police GHQ - General Department of Forensic Sciences & Criminology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| | - Viktor Cerny
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- Institute for Advanced Study, Paris, France
| | - Luísa Pereira
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
- Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Soares
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
- * E-mail:
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Pablos A, Gómez-Olivencia A, García-Pérez A, Martínez I, Lorenzo C, Arsuaga JL. From toe to head: Use of robust regression methods in stature estimation based on foot remains. Forensic Sci Int 2013; 226:299.e1-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2012] [Revised: 11/01/2012] [Accepted: 01/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Pfeiffer S. Conditions for Evolution of Small Adult Body Size in Southern Africa. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1086/667521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Grine FE. Observations on Middle Stone Age human teeth from Klasies River Main Site, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2012; 63:750-8. [PMID: 23044372 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2012] [Revised: 08/10/2012] [Accepted: 08/15/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The human fossils, artefacts and faunal remains from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits of Klasies River Main Site have featured prominently in discussions of the evolution of modern human morphology and the emergence of human behavioral modernity. Nearly 40 human fossils were uncovered by John Wymer's (1967-1968) excavations, and subsequent work by Hilary Deacon (1984-1995) has produced an additional dozen specimens. Many of the latter have been described, but most of the dental remains have been afforded only cursory mention and provisional identification. These specimens are documented here, and questions of individual association among some of the fossils from Wymer's excavations are also addressed. Three teeth provide the first indisputable evidence for juvenile individuals in the deposit. The proportion of juvenile to adult remains in the MSA levels at Klasies is notably lower than in other penecontemporaneous South African coastal MSA sites such as Die Kelders Cave 1 and Blombos Cave, where the proportion of juveniles is seemingly in closer keeping with coastal, geographically proximate Later Stone Age sites such as Oakhurst Shelter and Matjes River Cave. The sizes of most of the recently identified human teeth from Klasies seem to affirm at least one arguable aspect of morphometric modernity in the MSA at this site in the form of a tendency for tooth size reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA.
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Pablos A, Lorenzo C, Martínez I, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Martinón-Torres M, Carbonell E, Arsuaga JL. New foot remains from the Gran Dolina-TD6 Early Pleistocene site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). J Hum Evol 2012; 63:610-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2012] [Revised: 06/28/2012] [Accepted: 06/28/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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16
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Royer DF, Lockwood CA, Scott JE, Grine FE. Size variation in early human mandibles and molars from Klasies River, South Africa: Comparison with other middle and late Pleistocene assemblages and with modern humans. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2009; 140:312-23. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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