Dental evidence for extended growth in early Homo from Dmanisi.

Human life history is characterized by an extended period of immaturity during which there is a disjunction between cerebral and somatic growth rates. This mode of ontogeny is thought to be essential for the acquisition of advanced cognitive capabilities in a socially complex environment while the brain is still growing. Key information about when and how this pattern evolved can be gleaned from the teeth of fossil hominins because dental development informs about the pace of life history.

Shaft structure of the first metatarsal contains a strong phylogenetic signal in apes and humans.

Objectives: Metatarsal bones constitute a key functional unit of the foot in primates. While the form-function relationships of metatarsals have been extensively studied, particularly in relation to the loss of the grasping ability of the foot in humans in contrast to apes, the effect of phyletic history on the metatarsal morphology and its variability remains largely unknown.

Materials And Methods: Here, we evaluate how the strength of the phylogenetic signal varies from the first to the fifth metatarsal in humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons, and Japanese macaques.

Endocranial ontogeny and evolution in early : The evidence from Herto, Ethiopia.

Fossils and artifacts from Herto, Ethiopia, include the most complete child and adult crania of early . The endocranial cavities of the Herto individuals show that by 160,000 y ago, brain size, inferred from endocranial size, was similar to that seen in modern human populations. However, endocranial shape differed from ours.

Climate effects on archaic human habitats and species successions.

It has long been believed that climate shifts during the last 2 million years had a pivotal role in the evolution of our genus Homo. However, given the limited number of representative palaeo-climate datasets from regions of anthropological interest, it has remained challenging to quantify this linkage. Here, we use an unprecedented transient Pleistocene coupled general circulation model simulation in combination with an extensive compilation of fossil and archaeological records to study the spatiotemporal habitat suitability for five hominin species over the past 2 million years.