Mandibular morphology and the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Westernmost Iberia.

Neolithic farming and animal husbandry were first developed in the Near East ~ 10,000 BCE and expanded westwards, reaching westernmost Iberia no later than 5500 BCE. It resulted in major social, cultural, economic and dietary changes. Yet, the impact of this change on human mandibular morphology in Iberia is yet to be assessed, which is regrettable because mandible form is impacted by population history and diet.

Changes in dental wear magnitude in the last ∼8000 years in southwestern Iberia.

Objective: This study examines changes in dental wear magnitude in the past ∼8000 years, i.e., since Mesolithic until the 19th century, in southwestern Iberia.

SPIN enables high throughput species identification of archaeological bone by proteomics.

Species determination based on genetic evidence is an indispensable tool in archaeology, forensics, ecology, and food authentication. Most available analytical approaches involve compromises with regard to the number of detectable species, high cost due to low throughput, or a labor-intensive manual process. Here, we introduce "Species by Proteome INvestigation" (SPIN), a shotgun proteomics workflow for analyzing archaeological bone capable of querying over 150 mammalian species by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Testing the reliability of CT scan-based dental wear magnitude scoring.

Objectives: Digital models are now frequently used in biological anthropology (bioanthropology) research. Despite several studies validating this type of research, none has examined if the assessment of dental wear magnitude based on Computerized Tomography (CT) scans is reliable. Thus, this study aims to fill this gap and assess if dental wear magnitude scoring based on CT scans provides results consistent with scoring based on direct observation of the physical specimens.

Assessing the reliability of virtual reconstruction of mandibles.

Objectives: Mandibular morphological variation is often used to examine various aspects of human palaeobiology. However, fossil and archeological skeletal remains are often fragmented/distorted and so are frequently excluded from studies. This leads to decreased sample sizes and, potentially, to biased results.

A lunate-triquetral coalition from a commingled funerary context from the Chalcolithic Perdigões ditched enclosures of Portugal.

Carpal coalitions, resulting from a failure of separation of the cartilaginous precursors of the carpal bones during gestation, may be osseous or non-osseous. Even though lunate-triquetral coalitions are the most common of all carpal coalitions there is only one previous palaeopathological report of such a coalition. This study presents a non-osseous lunate-triquetral coalition found amongst the mostly cremated commingled bones from a Chalcolithic pit at Perdigões (Portugal).

Supraorbital morphology and social dynamics in human evolution.

Uniquely, with respect to Middle Pleistocene hominins, anatomically modern humans do not possess marked browridges, and have a more vertical forehead with mobile eyebrows that play a key role in social signalling and communication. The presence and variability of browridges in archaic Homo species and their absence in ourselves have led to debate concerning their morphogenesis and function, with two main hypotheses being put forward: that browridge morphology is the result of the spatial relationship between the orbits and the brain case; and that browridge morphology is significantly impacted by biting mechanics. Here, we virtually manipulate the browridge morphology of an archaic hominin (Kabwe 1), showing that it is much larger than the minimum required to fulfil spatial demands and that browridge size has little impact on mechanical performance during biting.

The biting performance of Homo sapiens and Homo heidelbergensis.

Modern humans have smaller faces relative to Middle and Late Pleistocene members of the genus Homo. While facial reduction and differences in shape have been shown to increase biting efficiency in Homo sapiens relative to these hominins, facial size reduction has also been said to decrease our ability to resist masticatory loads. This study compares crania of Homo heidelbergensis and H.

The biomechanical significance of the frontal sinus in Kabwe 1 (Homo heidelbergensis).

Paranasal sinuses are highly variable among living and fossil hominins and their function(s) are poorly understood. It has been argued they serve no particular function and are biological 'spandrels' arising as a structural consequence of changes in associated bones and/or soft tissue structures. In contrast, others have suggested that sinuses have one or more functions, in olfaction, respiration, thermoregulation, nitric oxide production, voice resonance, reduction of skull weight, and craniofacial biomechanics.

Ontogeny of the maxilla in Neanderthals and their ancestors.

Neanderthals had large and projecting (prognathic) faces similar to those of their putative ancestors from Sima de los Huesos (SH) and different from the retracted modern human face. When such differences arose during development and the morphogenetic modifications involved are unknown. We show that maxillary growth remodelling (bone formation and resorption) of the Devil's Tower (Gibraltar 2) and La Quina 18 Neanderthals and four SH hominins, all sub-adults, show extensive bone deposition, whereas in modern humans extensive osteoclastic bone resorption is found in the same regions.