The endocast morphology of LES1, Homo naledi.

Objectives: Homo naledi is near the extreme of small brain size within Homo but is easily recognized as Homo in other aspects of endocast morphology. This study adds new evidence of the endocast morphology of H. naledi by describing the Lesedi Hominin 1 (LES1) endocranium from the Lesedi Chamber and compares it to the previously known H.

Quantifying hominin morphological diversity at the end of the middle Pleistocene: Implications for the origin of Homo sapiens.

Objectives: The Middle Pleistocene (MP) saw the emergence of new species of hominins: Homo sapiens in Africa, H. neanderthalensis, and possibly Denisovans in Eurasia, whose most recent common ancestor is thought to have lived in Africa around 600 ka ago. However, hominin remains from this period present a wide range of morphological variation making it difficult to securely determine their taxonomic attribution and their phylogenetic position within the Homo genus.

Investigating the relationship between cranial bone thickness and diploic channels: A first comparison between fossil Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis.

Diploic veins are part of the circulatory system of the head. They transport venous blood and cerebrospinal fluid and are housed in diploic channels (DCs). DCs are highly variable in terms of their position, extension, and size.

The diploic venous system in Homo neanderthalensis and fossil Homo sapiens: A study using high-resolution computed tomography.

Objectives: The diploic venous system has been hypothesized to be related to human brain evolution, though its evolutionary trajectory and physiological functions remain largely unclear. This study examines the characteristics of the diploic venous channels (DCs) in a selection of well-preserved Homo neanderthalensis and Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens crania, searching for the differences between the two taxa and exploring the associations between brain anatomy and DCs.

Materials And Methods: Five H.

Lateralized behaviors in living humans: Application in the context of hominin brain evolution.

The left and right hemispheres of our brains differ subtly in structure, and each is dominant in processing specific cognitive tasks. Our species has a unique system of distributing behavior and cognition between each cerebral hemisphere, with a preponderance of pronounced side biases and lateralized functions. This hemisphere-dependent relationship between cognitive, sensory or motor function and a set of brain structures is called hemispheric specialization.

Covariation of proximal finger and toe phalanges in Homo sapiens: A novel approach to assess covariation of serially corresponding structures.

Objectives: As hands and feet are serially repeated corresponding structures in tetrapods, the morphology of fingers and toes is expected to covary due to a shared developmental origin. The present study focuses on the covariation of the shape of proximal finger and toe phalanges of adult Homo sapiens to determine whether covariation is different in the first ray relative to the others, as its morphology is also different.

Material And Methods: Proximal phalanges of 76 individuals of unknown sex (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, and the Natural History Museum, London) were digitized using a surface scanner.

Frontal sinuses and human evolution.

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.

The Internal Cranial Anatomy of a Female With Endocrine Disorders From a Mediaeval Population.

Gigantism and acromegaly have been observed in past populations; however, analyses usually focus on the morphological features of the post-cranial skeleton. The aim of this study is to characterize the internal anatomical features of the skull (brain endocast anatomy and asymmetry, frontal pneumatization, cranial thickness, sella turcica size) of an adult individual from the 11-14th centuries with these two diseases, in comparison with non-pathological individuals from the same population. The material consisted of 33 adult skulls from a mediaeval population, one of them belonging to an adult female with endocrine disorders (OL-23/77).

Nasopharyngeal morphology contributes to understanding the "muddle in the middle" of the Pleistocene hominin fossil record.

The late archeologist Glynn Isaac first applied the term "muddle in the middle" to a poorly understood period in the Middle Pleistocene human fossil record. This study uses the nasopharyngeal boundaries as a source of traits that may inform this unclear period of human evolution. The nasopharynx lies at the nexus of several vital physiological systems, yet relatively little is known about its importance in human evolution.

Browsing Multiple Subjects When the Atlas Adaptation Cannot Be Achieved a Warping Strategy.

Brain mapping studies often need to identify brain structures or functional circuits into a set of individual brains. To this end, multiple atlases have been published to represent such structures based on different modalities, subject sets, and techniques. The mainstream approach to exploit these atlases consists in spatially deforming each individual data onto a given atlas using dense deformation fields, which supposes the existence of a continuous mapping between atlases and individuals.

Variation in cross-sectional indicator of femoral robusticity in Homo sapiens and Neandertals.

Variations in the cross-sectional properties of long bones are used to reconstruct the activity of human groups and differences in their respective habitual behaviors. Knowledge of what factors influence bone structure in Homo sapiens and Neandertals is still insufficient thus, this study investigated which biological and environmental variables influence variations in the femoral robusticity indicator of these two species. The sample consisted of 13 adult Neandertals from the Middle Paleolithic and 1959 adult individuals of H.

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

The cranial anatomy of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens is well documented in the paleoanthropological and medical literature. However, there are few high-quality visual guides of their comparative morphology. We give here a detailed description of the anatomy of two important fossil specimens, La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1 and abri Pataud 1, based on high-resolution imaging data with each specimen representing the respective morphologies of H.

Pluridisciplinary evidence for burial for the La Ferrassie 8 Neandertal child.

The origin of funerary practices has important implications for the emergence of so-called modern cognitive capacities and behaviour. We provide new multidisciplinary information on the archaeological context of the La Ferrassie 8 Neandertal skeleton (grand abri of La Ferrassie, Dordogne, France), including geochronological data -C and OSL-, ZooMS and ancient DNA data, geological and stratigraphic information from the surrounding context, complete taphonomic study of the skeleton and associated remains, spatial information from the 1968-1973 excavations, and new (2014) fieldwork data. Our results show that a pit was dug in a sterile sediment layer and the corpse of a two-year-old child was laid there.

The Middle Pleistocene hominin mandible from Payre (Ardèche, France).

Although Neandertals are the best-known fossil hominins, the tempo and evolutionary processes in their lineage are strongly debated. This is in part due to the scarcity of the fossil record, in particular before the marine isotopic stage (MIS) 5. In 2010, a partial hominin mandible was discovered at the Middle Paleolithic site of Payre (France) in a layer that is dated to the end of MIS 8/beginning of MIS 7, a time period for which very few fossils are known in Europe.

The endocast of the late Middle Paleolithic Manot 1 specimen, Western Galilee, Israel.

Studying endocasts has long allowed anthropologists to examine changes in the external topography and the overall size of the brain throughout the evolutionary history of hominins. The nearly complete calvaria of Manot 1 presents an opportunity to gain insights into the external brain morphology, vascular system, and dimensions of the brain of this late Middle Paleolithic hominin. Detailed size and shape analyses of the Manot 1 endocast indicate a modern Homo sapiens anatomy, despite the presence of some primitive features of the calvaria.

The human remains from Axlor (Dima, Biscay, northern Iberian Peninsula).

Objectives: We provide the description and comparative analysis of all the human fossil remains found at Axlor during the excavations carried out by J. M. de Barandiarán from 1967 to 1974: a cranial vault fragment and seven teeth, five of which likely belonged to the same individual, although two are currently lost.

Neandertal-like traits visible in the internal structure of non-supranuchal fossae of some recent Homo sapiens: The problem of their identification in hominins and phylogenetic implications.

Although recently the internal structure of the non-supranuchal fossa of Homo sapiens has been described and compared to that observed in the Neandertal suprainiac fossa, until now it has not been examined in any modern human children. In this study, the internal structure of this fossa in the occipital bones of three children (two aged 3‒4 years and one aged 5 years ± 16 months) and one adult individual representing recent Homo sapiens from Australia was analysed and compared to that of the Neandertal suprainiac fossa. In order to analyse the internal composition of the fossae of the examined specimens, initially, high-resolution micro-CT datasets were obtained for their occipital bones; next, 3D topographic maps of the variation in thickness of structural layers of the occipital bones were made and 2D virtual sections in the median region of these fossae were prepared.

Isolated teeth from La Ferrassie: Reassessment of the old collections, new remains, and their implications.

Objectives: We provide the description and comparative analysis of six new teeth from the site of La Ferrassie. Our goal is to discuss their taxonomic attribution, and to provide an updated inventory of Neandertal and modern human remains from La Ferrassie in their associated archeological context.

Materials And Methods: We use external and internal anatomy, classic morphometrics, and geometric morphometrics.

Differential evolution of cerebral and cerebellar fossae in recent Homo: A new methodological approach.

The endocranium shows the influence of the shape and development of brain tissues and overall brain modifications. During the late Upper Pleistocene and Holocene smaller brains appeared and the higher position of endinion relative to inion might indicate changes in cerebellar and occipital lobes. In previous studies, the depths of the cerebral and cerebellar fossae were not specifically considered; new tools for quantitatively measuring these irregular, problematic curved areas need to be developed.