Search

Early hominid feet are often very fragmentary preserved and their architectural approaches stayed limited and subject to controversy. This study proposes an architectural analysis of the primate foot realised on dislocated skeleton. It is based on the angular analysis of geometrical relationships between the joint areas. We investigate the longitudinal structure of the primate foot and we present the results concerning someAustralopithecus afarensis specimens from Hadar (Ethiopia) and theHomo habilis Olduvai Hominid 8 foot (Tanzania). The architectural analysis argues for the lack of a longitudinal medial arch inA. afarensis, their joints being in neutral position. On the contrary, the more recent OH8 specimen is arched both medially and laterally.

Excavation in the previously little-explored western portion of Olduvai Gorge indicates that hominid land use of the eastern paleobasin extended at least episodically to the west. Finds included a dentally complete Homo maxilla (OH 65) with lower face, Oldowan stone artifacts, and butchery-marked bones dated to be between 1.84 and 1.79 million years old. The hominid shows strong affinities to the KNM ER 1470 cranium from Kenya ( Homo rudolfensis ), a morphotype previously unrecognized at Olduvai. ER 1470 and OH 65 can be accommodated in the H. habilis holotype, casting doubt on H. rudolfensis as a biologically valid taxon.

Humans include several species of the genus Homo that are able to design strategies for transforming ecosystems. The oldest remains of this process is the fabrication of tools, approximately 2.5 millions of years before present. Humans originated from Primate relatives through evolutionary processes whose principles explain evolution of all living things. Current humans originated nearly 200,000 years ago in Africa, rapidly populating the Earth. Homo sapiens used technologies for fabricating tools initiated by Homo habilis and probably some Australopithecus species, as well as management of fire by Homo erectus. Some 12,000 years humans ago started to domesticate plants and animals and arose agriculture, which determined the advent of civilization and intensive evolutionary influence on ecosystems and managed organisms. Domestication include several evolutionary processes of landscapes and organisms. Biotic resources evolve under domestication mainly guided through artificial selection, but other evolutionary forces such as genetic drift, gene flow and mutation have incidentally or intentionally influenced evolution under domestication. Studies of evolutionary processes guided by culture are the main purposes of evolutionary ethnobotany. Human culture is crucial for understanding such evolutionary process and these evolutionary processes allow a deeper understanding of human culture.

Modern humans are characterized by specialized hand morphology that is associated with advanced manipulative skills. Thus, there is important debate in paleoanthropology about the possible cause–effect relationship of this modern human-like (MHL) hand anatomy, its associated grips and the invention and use of stone tools by early hominins. Here we describe and analyse Olduvai Hominin (OH) 86, a manual proximal phalanx from the recently discovered >1.84-million-year-old (Ma) Philip Tobias Korongo (PTK) site at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). OH 86 represents the earliest MHL hand bone in the fossil record, of a size and shape that differs not only from all australopiths, but also from the phalangeal bones of the penecontemporaneous and geographically proximate OH 7 partial hand skeleton (part of the Homo habilis holotype). The discovery of OH 86 suggests that a hominin with a more MHL postcranium co-existed with Paranthropus boisei and Homo habilis at Olduvai during Bed I times., The homin fossil record reveals a complex pattern of hand evolution. Here, the authors describe a phalanx of a >1.84-million-year-old unidentified hominin, which represents the earliest modern human like hand bone in the fossil record.

Recent analyses and new fossil discoveries suggest that the evolution of hominin limb length proportions is complex, with evolutionary reversals and a decoupling of proportions within and between limbs. This study takes into account intraspecific variation to test whether or not the limb proportions of four early hominin associated skeletons (AL 288-1, OH 62, BOU-VP-12/1, and KNM-WT 15000) can be considered to be significantly different from one another. Exact randomization methods were used to compare the differences between pairs of fossil skeletons to the differences observed between all possible pairs of individuals within large samples of Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus, and Homo sapiens. Although the difference in humerofemoral proportions between OH 62 and AL 288-1 does not exceed variation in the extant samples, it is rare. When humerofemoral midshaft circumferences are compared, the difference between OH 62 and AL 288-1 is fairly common in extant species. This, in combination with error associated with the limb lengths estimates, suggests that it may be premature to consider H. (or Australopithecus) habilis as having more apelike limb proportions than those in A. afarensis. The humerofemoral index of BOU-VP-12/1 differs significantly from both OH 62 and AL 288-1, but not from KNM-WT 15000. Published length estimates, if correct, suggest that the relative forearm length of BOU-VP-12/1 is unique among hominins, exceeding those of the African apes and resembling the proportions in Pongo. Evidence that A. afarensis exhibited a less apelike upper:lower limb design than A. africanus (and possibly H. habilis) suggests that, if A. afarensis is broadly ancestral to A. africanus, the latter did not simply inherit primitive morphology associated with arboreality, but is derived in this regard. The fact that the limb proportions of OH 62 (and possibly KNM-ER 3735) are no more human like than those of AL 288-1 underscores the primitive body design of H. habilis.

Four human remains: one mandible, two skulls and one metatarsus were discovered between 1991 and 1999 at the open-air site of Dmanisi, Georgia, in a precise stratigraphic, palaeontological and archaeological context, in volcanic ashes dated to 1.81 ± 0.05 Ma. The first studies of these fossils enable the authors to compare them with the morphology of archaic African Homo erectus , ascribed to Homo ergaster , and to ascertain hominid presence at the gates of Europe 300 000 years earlier than the classical scenario forecasted. In September 2000, the discovery of a second more complete and robust mandible D 2600 presents a threefold interest: palaeontological, functional and pathological. A comparison with Homo habilis and Homo erectus leads to the recognition of a new Homo species: H. georgicus sp. nov. The morphofunctional characteristics and the antiquity of H. georgicus characterise the root of a long Eurasian line.

Since the discovery of KNM-ER 1805 in 1974, its taxonomic assignment is widely discussed. The aim of this paper is to re-evaluate the attribution of this fossil after comparison with a sample of original Plio-Pleistocene hominids. This specimen possesses a combination of traits that differentiate it from other hominids. In a cladistic analysis, with the operational taxonomic unit defined by the specimen, KNM-ER 1805 has a peculiar position; it is not linked with the Homo clade. KNM-ER 1805 should not be considered as an average male of Homo habilis in cladistic and morphological analyses. To cite this article: S. Prat, C. R. Palevol 1 (2002) 27–33.

Archaeology treats hominid evlution as a bio-cultural phenomenon and reveals the behavioral activities of man as far back as 3 to 5 millions years ago, with different genera and species of hominids and their cultural endowment.

The earliest fossil remains of the genus Homo have been discovered in eastern, southeastern, and southern Africa. The sample comprises about 200 skeletal fragments attributable to about 40 individuals and assigned to two species: Homo rudolfensis (2.5–1.8 Ma) showing a combination of primitive dentition with Homo-like locomotion and Homo habilis (2.1–1.5 Ma) exhibiting a progressive reduction of tooth roots but resembling great apes rather than humans in the postcranial skeleton. Another significant difference between early Homo and the australopithecines is brain size, which was larger in early Homo than in Australopithecus but smaller than inHomo erectus. Endocasts ofH. habilis from F. Schrenk (*) • O. Kullmer Department of Paleoanthropology and Messel Research, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt, Germany e-mail: schrenk@bio.uni-frankfurt.de; ottmar.kullmer@senckenberg.de T. Bromage Department of Biomaterials and Biomimetics, New York University, College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA e-mail: tim.bromage@nyu.edu # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 W. Henke, I. Tattersall (eds.), Handbook of Paleoanthropology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-39979-4_52 2145 Olduvai Gorge and Koobi Fora reveal a number of distinctive features, some of which are recognized as Homo autapomorphies. Differences in tooth wear between H. rudolfensis, with megadont teeth and more horizontal tooth abrasion, and H. habilis, with more gracile molars and higher relief in worn teeth, indicate significant differences in diet and ecology of early Homo species. The origin of the genus Homo coincided with the onset of material culture. Between ca. 2.8 and 2.5 Ma, extensive open habitats comprising more arid-tolerant vegetation developed in Africa. The selective pressures of this habitat change resulted in the increased survival of more megadont species varieties. Megadonty allowed these species to feed on harder open woodland-open savannah food items (chapter “▶Dental Adaptations of African Apes,” Vol. 2) resulting in the phyletic splitting of Australopithecus afarensis into Paranthropus and Homo lineages by ca. 2.5 Ma. An evolutionary scenario that complies with both the Habitat Theory and early hominid biogeography is provided. It delineates the association between faunal turnover and climate change and suggests a single origin for the Paranthropus lineage but separate origins for H. rudolfensis and H. habilis from A. afarensis, A. africanus, or A. sediba ancestors, respectively.

Bernard Wood explains why the announcement of 'handy man' in April 1964 threw the field of hominin evolution into a turmoil that continues to this day.

Resume La clavicule est un os qui a ete peu etudie en anthropologie et paleoanthropologie malgre son importance fonctionnelle. Le travail presente ici est une etude des courbures claviculaires chez les hominoidea actuels et chez quelques hominides fossiles ( Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, Homo antecessor et neandertaliens). La morphologie claviculaire en vue superieure traduit essentiellement les capacites d'elevation du bras de l'individu, alors que la morphologie claviculaire en vue posterieure informe sur la position de la scapula par rapport au thorax. Les clavicules fossiles, notamment les neandertaliennes, montrent, en vue superieure, une morphologie proche de celle de l'homme moderne. Les capacites de mouvement du bras chez ces hominides devaient donc etre similaires a celles de l'homme actuel. En vue posterieure, les clavicules de ces fossiles presentent une double courbure. Ces caracteristiques traduisent chez ces hominides une scapula plus haute par rapport au thorax que chez l'homme moderne.

Cutmarks inflicted by a stone tool were observed on the right maxilla of Stw 53, an early hominid partial skull from Sterkfontein “Member 5” (South Africa). The morphology of the marks, their anatomical placement, and the lack of random striae on the specimen all support an interpretation of this linear damage as cutmarks. The location of the marks on the lateral aspect of the zygomatic process of the maxilla is consistent with that expected from slicing through the masseter muscle, presumably to remove the mandible from the cranium. Although radioisotopic dates are not available and relative faunal dating of the deposit from which Stw 53 derives is problematic, the morphology of the hominid skull suggests a Plio-Pleistocene age for the specimen. This therefore constitutes the earliest unambiguous evidence that hominids disarticulated the remains of one another. Am J Phys Anthropol 111:579–584, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The genusHomo was established by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. During the course of the past 150 years, the addition of fossil species to the genusHomo has resulted in a genus that, according to the taxonomic interpretation, could span as much time as 2.5 Myr, and include as many as ten species. This paper reviews the fossil evidence for each of the species involved, and sets out the case for their inclusion inHomo. It suggests that while the case for the inclusion of some species in the genus (e.g.Homo erectus) is well-supported, in the case of two of the species,Homo habilis andHomo rudolfensis, the case for their inclusion is much weaker. Neither the cladistic evidence, nor evidence about adaptation suggest a particularly close relationship with laterHomo.

Several synthetic studies provide evidence of faunistic and floristic shifts as consequences of global climatic events around 2.5 and 1.8 Ma. Some authors are more confident in the role played by local tectonic events to explain such a change in terms of vicariance. It is possible that astronomic, tectonic and climatic variations are linked, as the lithosphere is a catalyst for biosphere more or less strong according to the period. The purpose of this paper is to confront independent environmental and anatomical data to try to understand the evolutionary process in hominids, with particular emphasis on species of the genus Homo in East Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene period. Thus the result of a cladistic analysis based on 35 Otus and 468 features of the calvaria is showing the onset of at least four species to describe the grade of Homo habilis, living in East Africa. The radiation is congruent with the contemporaneous environmental shifts around 2.5 Ma, as is also the case for bovids or cercopithecids. Some Homo erectus left Africa when another climatic pulse happened around 1.8 Ma.

The degree of hallux abduction in extant and fossil hominoids is analysed in terms of geometric relationships between the first metatarsal and the medial cuneiform and quantified by angular data, in relation to grasping ability and locomotor pattern. The ‘australopithecine’ pattern corresponds to an abducted first podal ray with some grasping abilities and seems to be derived from a ‘ Proconsul -like’ pattern rather than a ‘living African great ape-like’ pattern. The Olduvai Hominid 8 condition closely resembles that of the modern human which corresponds to a full bipedalism.

Since its introduction in the 18th century, the genus Homo has undergone a number of reinterpretations, all of which have served to make it a more inclusive taxon. In this paper, we trace this trend towards greater inclusiveness, and explain how it has affected the way Homo is defined. We then demonstrate that the current criteria for identifying species of Homo are difficult, if not impossible, to operate using paleoanthropological evidence. We discuss alternative, verifiable, criteria, and show that when these new criteria are applied to Homo, two species, Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, fail to meet them. We contend that the lowest boundary of Homo should be redrawn so that the earliest species in the genus is Homo ergaster, or early African Homo erectus. The appearance of this species at around 1.9 Myr appears to mark a distinct shift in hominin adaptive strategy involving morphological and behavioral innovations.

Recently discovered crania of Australopithecus africanus from Sterkfontein Member 4 and Makapansgat enlarge the size range of the species and encourage a reappraisal of both the degree and pattern of sexual dimorphism. Resampling methodology (bootstrapping) is used here to establish that A. africanus has a greater craniofacial size range than chimpanzees or modern humans, a range which is best attributed to a moderately high degree of sexual dimorphism. Compared to other fossil hominins, this variation is similar to that of Homo habilis (sensu lato) but less than that of A. boisei. The finding of moderately high dimorphism is corroborated by a CV-based estimate and ratios between those specimens considered to be male and those considered to be female. Inferences about the pattern of craniofacial dimorphism in the A. africanus face currently rely on the relationship of morphology and size. Larger specimens, particularly Stw 505, show prominent superciliary eminences and glabellar regions, but in features related in part to canine size, such as the curvature of the infraorbital surface, large and small specimens of A. africanus are similar. In this respect, the pattern resembles that of modern humans more so than chimpanzees or lowland gorillas. A. africanus may also show novel patterns of sexual dimorphism when compared to extant hominines, such as in the form of the anterior pillar. However, males of the species do not exhibit characteristics of more derived hominins, such as A. robustus. Am J Phys Anthropol 108:97–127, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Associated skeletons, which are specimens preserving more than one body part from the same individual, are especially important for taxonomic and functional analyses. This study concentrates on the subset of associated skeletons which preserve the reciprocal surfaces of a joint. It uses laser scanning to explore whether the shapes of the reciprocal surfaces of a joint of an individual are significantly more congruent than the surfaces of randomly-matched pairings taken from the same species. Laser scanning was used to capture the distal articular surface of the left tibia of OH35 and the trochlear articular surface of the talus of OH8, both from Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The degree of congruency between those articular surfaces was tested against the congruency of the talocrural joint of AL 288-1 (Australopithecus afarensis), and the congruency of both associated and randomly-matched talocrural joints of modern humans, chimpanzees and gorillas. The results suggest that OH35 and OH8 do not come from the same individual and may not come from the same species. Although this analysis leaves open the taxonomic affinity of OH35, it demonstrates the potential of laser scanning for capturing 3D data in palaeoanthropology. It also demonstrates the potential for using the relative congruency of reciprocal joint surfaces as a test of the likelihood that isolated limb bones are components of a single individual.

Prompted by the discovery of the Olduvai Hominid 7 hand (Homo habilis) in 1960, studies of primate hands were conducted in order to understand better the functional morphology of the earliest hominids and the evolution of tool behavior. Since Napier's work in the early 1960s, the hand bones of a number of other species have been recovered in East and South Africa. New hominid finds and a prolific archaeological record have broadened our perspective on the evolution of tool behavior inAustralopithecus, Paranthropus, and earlyHomo. A debate is underway at this time on the questions of what exactly we can glean from the fossil record regarding the evolution of tool behavior and what are the best approaches to interpreting the evidence. I support the model of Napier that identified morphological correlates ofprecisionandpowergrasping in the hands of extant primates and in early hominid hand bones. At the same time, I question both the underlying rationale and attempts to identify more subtle aspects of precision grasping, based on present evidence.

Two analyses conclude that Sts 19 cannot be accommodated within the Australopithecus africanus hypodigm (Kimbel and Rak (1993) In Kimbel and Martin (eds.): Species, Species Concepts, and Primate Evolution. New York: Plenum, pp. 461-484; Sarmiento (1993) Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. (Suppl.) 16:173). Both studies exclude Sts 19 because it possesses synapomorphies with Homo. Furthermore, according to Kimbel and Rak (1993), including Sts 19 in A. africanus results in an unacceptably high degree of polymorphism. This study aims to refute the null hypothesis that Sts 19 belongs to A. africanus. Twelve basicranial characters, as defined and implemented in Kimbel and Rak's study, were scored for casts of seven A. africanus and seven Homo habilis basicranial specimens. These characters were also examined on specimens from a large (N 5 87) sample of African pongids. Contrary to Kimbel and Rak's (1993) findings, the null hypothesis is not refuted. The degree of polymorphism among A. africanus with Sts 19 included is less than that seen in Pan troglodytes. In addition, Sts 19 shares only one apomorphy with Homo. However, when treated metrically, Sts 19's morphology for this character is not significantly divergent from other A. africanus specimens. Am J Phys Anthropol 105:461-480, 1998. r 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Capuchin monkeys are well-known for their extensive manipulative propen sities which rival those of chimpanzees. This report examines the produc tion and use of tools by capuchins with the aim of gaining insight into the origins of hominid material culture. It is proposed that research examining tool-making and tool-using in extant nonhuman primates can facilitate greater understanding of the mental life of Homo habilis and other early hominid species.

Two models of diversification of the common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and men can be proposed on the basis of the distribution of chromosomal rearrangements in extant species and reconsideration of the role played by climate. The small genetic divergence between chimpanzees and humans is greatly amplified at the morphological level, thus constituting the ‘human paradox’. This paradox is resolved by the economical and flexible evolutionary mechanism of mutations in regulator genes and the heterochronies they control, which are the true internal clocks of evolution. Changes in cranial morphology are quantified and used to analyse and explain the steps in the transition from great ape to human morphology. By comparison at the various stages of development, it is suggested that from great apes to modern man numerous heterochronies have occured during ontogeny (hypermorphosis, hypomorphosis and post-displacements).

For most of the evolution of the hominoids (apes and humans), it seems likely that we depended on plant-based (vegetarian) diets1-5 -very high in fiber, low in saturated fats, lacking in cholesterol, with carbohydrate in dilute form, rich in micronutrients and phytochemicals, and with very low energy density. The gibbon split from our clade over 20 million years ago. The orangutan departed 15 million years ago. The final break occurred 5 to 7 million years ago with the shift in tectonic plates that created the Rift Valley and sent gorilla, chimpanzee, and human to follow their separate paths of develop ment. The gibbon, orangutan, and gorilla, and to a large extent the chimpanzee, continue with their plant-based diets. Humans are the "odd men out." They left the jungle and colonized the savannah, they gathered plant materials for subsistence, and it has been suggested that they followed the big cats and other carnivores to compete with the jackal for the carrion.6'7 Approxi mately 2.5 million years ago, Homo habilis ("handy man") developed stone tools from which the Acheulian hand ax developed (a flat pear-shaped cutting instrument). This all-purpose "Swiss army knife" allowed carrion skulls and long bones to be opened for brain and marrow-valuable sources of fat in a calorie-poor environment. With the further evolution of stone implements, most recently in the Paleolithic period, large-scale hunting became possible, and meat intake is hypothesized to have been high.8 However, the species reductions and extinctions that followed successful hunting brought on the Neolithic agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago; for the first time, starch became a major dietary staple9 and allowed our species numbers to multiply and enjoy a measure of security and affluence. With this advance came diabetes, described first by the ancient Egyptians. Since then, the industrial revolution and the industrialization of food produc tion and distribution has fulfilled human needs for energy conservation (sloth) and abundance of food (gluttony). All these advances have taken place through increasingly rapid evolution of our tools, machines, and devices without corresponding evolution of the human genome. We are therefore still programmed to store energy effectively. In an age of inactivity and abundance, we are increasingly obese. We are programmed to maintain our blood glucose levels even in starvation; thus, in affluence, we are increasingly diabetic. We are programmed to synthesize cholesterol for a low-calorie environment when there was an absence of saturated fat and dietary cholesterol. With our contemporary dietary pattern, half our middle-aged population have high blood cholesterol levels and could benefit from statins, currently the most efficacious class of drugs. So overwhelming are these metabolic problems of 21st century civilization that we asked what effect a "primitive diet" might have on the biochemical indices of modern man.

In 2002, a fragmentary skullcap was discovered in Denizli basin, in the locality of Kocabas, in the southwest of Turkey (Kappelman et al., 2008). The skullcap was ascribed to Homo erectus on the basis of morphological and metric similarities with the Chinese fossils from Zhoukoudian L-C (Vialet et al., 2012). An in-depth morphological and metric analysis (2D and 3D) was carried out on a new 3D reconstruction of the fossil, made up of the frontal bone and parietal fragments. The results confirm that the morphology of the frontal bone, the conformation and the dimensions of the Kocabas specimen, clearly differentiate it from Homo habilis-Homo georgicus, on one hand, and Homo heidelbergensis-Neanderthal, on the other. It displays similar metric characteristics to African (KNM-ER3733, OH9, Daka-Bouri) and Asian (skulls from Zhoukoudian L-C, Nankin 1, Sangiran 17) Homo erectus, a marked post-orbital constriction, a supraorbital torus bordered posteriorly by a supratoral sulcus and showing, on its inferior border, a supraorbital notch and tuber, temporal lines in a medium high position delimiting an infratemporal frontal zone with a clear bulge. However, the proportions of the short and large Kocabas frontal bone (without the supraorbital torus) differentiate it from Asian Homo erectus, which present a longer squama frontalis. This feature is also present on African Homo erectus. Consequently, the Turkish fossil appears to be intermediary between the Homo erectus from Africa and Asia, both from an anatomic and geographic point of view. In the light of the new dates advanced for this fossil, at least 1.1 Ma (Lebatard et al., 2014a, b; Khatib et al., 2014; Boulbes et al., 2014), it contributes, along with OH9, to bridging a palaeoanthropological gap between KNM-ER3733 (1.78 Ma) and the Chinese fossils from Zhoukoudian L-C, Sangiran 17 (earlier than 0.78 Ma) and Nankin 1 (approximately 0.63 Ma). This study, which mainly concerns the frontal bone, implies that Homo erectus is a species with a vast geochronological distribution and marked morphometric variability. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The Hadar site in Ethiopia is a prolific source of hominid fossils attributed to the species Australopithecus afarensis, which spans the period 3.4–3.0 million years (myr) in the Sidi Hakoma, Denen Dora and lower Kada Hadar Members of the Hadar Formation. Since 1992 a major focus of field work conducted at Hadar has centered on sediments younger than 3.0 myr, comprising the bulk of the Kada Hadar Member. Witnessing the rise of the “robust” Australopithecus clade(s), the origin of Homo, and the first record of lithic artifacts, the period between 3.0 and 2.0 myr is strategically vital for paleoanthropology. However, in eastern Africa it is a particularly poorly sampled temporal interval. This paper provides a detailed comparative description of a hominid maxilla with partial dentition found at Hadar in 1994. The specimen, A.L. 666-1, derives from a lithic artifact–bearing horizon high in the Kada Hadar Member, 0.8 m below the BKT-3 tephra, dated by the 40Ar/39Ar method to 2.33 ± 0.07 myr. Our preliminary investigation of the hominid specimen showed unambiguous affinities with early representatives of the Homo clade (Kimbel et al. [1996] J. Hum. Evol. 31:549–561). Further studies on maxillary and dental morphology lead us to attribute A.L. 666-1 to Homo aff. H. habilis. The new Hadar jaw is the first paleontological evidence for the projection of the H. habilis maxillofacial morphotype well back into the Pliocene. It may represent a male of this species, whose maxillary hypodigm consists chiefly of females. A subsidiary finding of our study is that of the three earliest recorded species of Homo (H. habilis, H. rudolfensis, H. erectus), it is H. habilis that exhibits facial morphology closest to that expected in their last common ancestor. Am J Phys Anthropol 103:235–262, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Given that we have attempted a very broad sweep through two of the major issues in anthropology (human evolution and environmental change) it would be impossible to have any easy conclusions. In closing I would therefore stress only the major points in their simplest form. First, hominid evolution does not consist of just two dispersals (out of Africa 1 and 2) but of multiple such events. Unraveling these, and the ecological conditions underlying them, should be a major focus for research. Second, if hominid evolution does consist of multiple dispersals, then it follows that there must have been multiple local extinctions. Although we tend to think of human demography in terms of growth, demographic collapse is equally important in evolution. Third, where hominids have had an effect on the environment it has tended to occur in two very specific contexts-the colonisation of new regions and the development of agriculture. And finally, if we are interested in the human evolution and the environment, coevolution rather than anthropogenic change may be the more useful concept.

Taxonomic problem of early homo. cranial studies of the specimens of olduvai gorge and koobi fora. Summary. — The taxonomy of the earliest known representatives of the genus Homo remain obscure. We propose, from morphometrical and morphological studies of the cranial remains from Olduvai Gorge and Koobi Fora, to examine the composition of the hypodigm of Homo habilis and to focus on the relationships between these specimens. Our results show a taxonomie hetererogeneity in Homo habilis and a distinction of two groups within this taxon., Résumé. — La taxinomie des premiers représentants du genre Homo, reste encore de nos jours très obscure. Nous proposons à partir d'une étude morphométrique et morphologique des restes crâniens des individus d'Olduvai et de Koobi Fora d'examiner la constitution de l'hypodigme actuel à' Homo habilis et de mettre en évidence les relations entre les différents spécimens qui le constituent. Nos résultats sont en faveur d'une hétérogénéité taxinomique à' Homo habilis et de la distinction de deux groupes à l'intérieur de cette espèce., Prat Sandrine. Problème taxinomique des premiers représentants du genre Homo. Études crâniennes des individus d'Olduvai et de Koobi Fora. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, Nouvelle Série. Tome 9 fascicule 3-4, 1997. pp. 251-266.

Three to four million years ago, the early hominins had well-developed hands, but their brains were too rudimentary for tool making. Even if Ardi (Ardipithecus ramidus) and Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) were able to use stones and other objects to protect themselves or attack enemies, there is no indication that they were able to make tools by themselves. Tool making requires imagination and a capacity for planning and abstract thinking, and it has been proposed that the larger Homo habilis brain was required for tool making to become possible. However, new findings in Ethiopia’s Afar region indicate that tool making might have taken place about 800,000 years earlier than previously believed. A large brain may not be a prerequisite for tool making after all, as indicated by the advanced tools made by ‘the hobbit’, Homo floresiensis, as well as various types of tools used by chimpanzees, crows and rooks. Some researchers now suggest that man’s use of tools may have been a contributing factor to the development of the brain rather than vice versa and that the use of technical aids might have increased the chances of survival and thus had an essential influence on the development of humankind and societal structures.

To characterize further the Australopithecus sediba hypodigm, we describe 22 dental traits in specimens MH1 and MH2. Like other skeletal elements, the teeth present a mosaic of primitive and derived features. The new nonmetric data are then qualitatively and phenetically compared with those in eight other African hominin samples, before cladistic analyses using a gorilla outgroup. There is some distinction, largely driven by contrasting molar traits, from East African australopiths. However, Au. sediba links with Au. africanus to form a South African australopith clade. These species present five apomorphies, including shared expressions of Carabelli’s upper first molar (UM1) and protostylid lower first molar (LM1). Five synapomorphies are also evident between them and monophyletic Homo habilis/rudolfensis + H. erectus . Finally, a South African australopith + Homo clade is supported by four shared derived states, including identical LM1 cusp 7 expression.

This response to continuing commentary addresses brain-hand relationships inCebus apella(as introduced in West-ergaard's commentary), the evolutionary and acquisition parallels between music and language (suggested by Lynch), and the potential behavioral linguistic consequences of the evolutionary neurobiology inAustralopithecus africanusandHomo habilis(discussed by Tobias). Finally, we reiterate the importance of well informed, multidisciplinary approaches to the study of the emergence of human species-specific cognition, especially linguistic capacity.

The cranium found at Bodo in 1976 is derived from Middle Pleistocene deposits containing faunal remains and Acheulean artefacts. A parietal recovered later must belong to a second individual, probably representing the same taxon. The cranium includes the face, much of the frontal bone, parts of the midvault and the base anterior to the foramen magnum. It is clear that the Bodo hominids resembleHomo erectusin a number of characters. The facial skeleton is large, especially in its breadth dimensions. The braincase is low and decidedly archaic in overall appearance. Individual bones are quite thick. Behind the projecting supraorbital torus, the frontal profile is flattened. The midline keel and bregmatic eminence are characteristic ofH. erectus. Frontal narrowing is less pronounced than in crania from Olduvai and Koobi Fora but slightly greater than in some Sangiran specimens. The parietal displays a prominent angular torus. Whether the inferior part of the tympanic plate was substantially thickened cannot be checked, but in the placement of its petrous bone and the resulting crevice-like configuration of the foramen lacerum, the Bodo hominid resemblesH. erectus. Other traits seem more clearly to be synapomorphies uniting Bodo with later Middle Pleistocene populations and recent humans. Cranial capacity is substantially greater than expected forH. erectus. Among traits related to this size increase may be counted the broader midvault with signs of parietal bossing, a high contour of the temporal squama and perhaps some details of cranial base anatomy. Derived features of the frontal bone and face likely include division of the brow at mid-orbit and its attenuation laterally. The “crista nasalis” falls vertically from rhinion so as to give the nasal aperture an erect appearance, characteristic of modern humans. Another synapomorphy is the positioning of the incisive canal relative to the hard palate. Sorting the Middle Awash specimens is difficult. The cranium is incomplete, and individuals are always variable in their anatomy. Nevertheless, it seems most reasonable to group Bodo with Broken Hill and similar Middle Pleistocene specimens from Africa and Europe. This entire assemblage can be referred toHomo heidelbergensis. It is clear thatH. heidelbergensisoverlaps in time with late populations ofH. erectus. The Middle Awash hominids may be approximately contemporary with the people at Ternifine (Tighenif) and upper Bed IV at Olduvai Gorge. The Bodo deposits probably antedate even the first signs of occupation at Zhoukoudian and are far older than sites such as Longtandong (Hexian) in China. The evidence is consistent with an episode of speciation occurring in Africa or western Eurasia and subsequent dispersal ofH. heidelbergensis. This event occurred while more archaic people still inhabited much of the Far East.

A quantitative analysis that employs randomization methods and distance statistics has been undertaken in an attempt to further clarify the phenetic and taxonomic affinities of Plio-PleistoceneHomocrania from eastern and southern Africa. Modern reference samples ofHomo sapiens(n=44),Pan troglodytes(n=50) andGorilla gorilla(n=50), and threeParanthropuscrania were employed in an assessment of the differences among the earlyHomospecimens. Crania attributed toHomo habilis sensu lato(OH 24, KNM-ER 1470, KNM-ER 1813, Stw 53 and SK 847) are clearly distinct from those assigned toHomo ergasteror earlyHomo erectus(KNM-ER 3733 and KNM-WT 15000). The crania attributed toH. habilis sensu latoform three rather distinct phenetic clusters. An orthognathic reconstruction of KNM-ER 1470 is clearly differentiated from the other four specimens principally by virtue of its size, whereas significant shape differences exist between the smaller specimens from eastern Africa (OH 24 and KNM-ER 1813) and those from South Africa (SK 847 and Stw 53). The level of taxonomic differentiation between these three clusters is difficult to assess on the basis of the data employed here, but these results lend support to arguments that KNM-ER 1470 should be attributed to a different species from OH 24 and KNM-ER 1813, and to suggestions that the South African specimens may represent a species ofHomothat has not been sampled in eastern Africa. Furthermore, the present data indicate that gorillas do not comprise an appropriate group by which to gauge intraspecific cranial variability in earlyHomo.

Dividing the fossils usually assigned to the taxonHomo habilis sensu latointo two species (as most researchers now accept) necessitates a re-examination of their evolutionary relationships. A cladistic analysis of 48 of the most commonly-used cranial characters from recent studies of Pliocene hominid phylogeny and which distinguish two taxa withinH. habilis sensu latosuggests that these fossils have different evolutionary affinities. One taxon,H. habilis sensu stricto, is represented by KNM-ER 1813 and the fossils from Olduvai Gorge, and is most likely a sister group ofH. erectus. The other taxon,H. rudolfensis, is represented by KNM-ER 1470, and shares many derived characters with the australopithecines. A close analysis of the developmental basis of these characters suggests that many of the australopithecine similarities ofH. rudolfensisare likely to be homologies rather than homoplasies.

Human evolution exhibits repeated speciations and conspicuous morphological change: from Australopithecus to Homo habilis, H. erectus, and H. sapiens; and from their hominoid ancestor to orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans. Theories of founder-event speciation propose that speciation often occurs as a consequence of population bottlenecks, down to one or very few individual pairs. Proponents of punctuated equilibrium claim in addition that founder-event speciation results in rapid morphological change. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) consists of several very polymorphic gene loci. The genealogy of 19 human alleles of the DQB1 locus coalesces more than 30 million years ago, before the divergence of apes and Old World monkeys. Many human alleles are more closely related to pongid and cercopithecoid alleles than to other human alleles. Using the theory of gene coalescence, we estimate that these polymorphisms require human populations of the order of N = 100,000 individuals for the last several million years. This conclusion is confirmed by computer simulations showing the rate of decay of the polymorphisms over time. Computer simulations indicate, in addition, that in human evolution no bottlenecks have occurred with fewer than several thousand individuals. We evaluate studies of mtDNA, Y-chromosome, and microsatellite autosomal polymorphisms and conclude that they are consistent with the MHC result that no narrow population bottlenecks have occurred in human evolution. The available molecular information favors a recent African origin of modern humans, who spread out of Africa approximately 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Under the assumption that life history in general and longevity in particular play an important part in the study of evolutionary patterns and processes, this paper focuses on predicting longevity changes across hominid evolution and attempts to throw light on the significance of such changes. We also consider some statistical arguments in the analysis of hominid life history patterns. Multiple regression techniques incorporating primate body weight and brain size data are used to predict hominied longevity and the results are compared to those in the literature. Our findings suggest that changes in hominid longevity are more likely to follow brain size than body weight, and that multiple regression techniques may be an appropriate avenue for future studies on life history variation in human evolution.

In 25,000 BC a few people at Dolni Vestonice, now in the Czech Republic, lived in shelters made of rocks, wood, and mastodon bones. Most tribes back then dwelt in caves or temporary huts, and some on the European steppe made torches by burning animal fat in the bulbs of mammoth femurs. From the era of Homo habilis through 10,000 BC, total global wealth was near zero.

The discovery and the study of Australopithecus sediba has brought the debate between its supporters as the only immediate ancestor of Homo erectus excluding H. habilis out of that ancestry as well as any other eventual species of genus Homo, and on the other side the defenders of Homo habilis as the direct ancestor of Homo erectus and following humans. Here the second opinion is supported, with the view that the succession between two species is not instantaneous, the new distinctive traits appearing, generally inherited in several individuals of a single living species, and tribe, coexisting with other individuals bearing primitive traits, until these disappear, even a time after the separation of the groups with different inheritance prevalent. Besides the known sites yielding lithic tools more than 2 Ma old the fossil group of Dmanissi (Rep. Georgia) is a solid proof: one of the earliest tribes of H. erectus/ergaster, leaving Africa to Eurasia near 1.8 Ma, including individuals with prevalent traits of H. habilis. The climate and environment crises between near 2.5-1.8 Ma ago with harsh aridity in Africa may have infl uenced such complexes process. In South Africa similar genetic changes may have occurred at a near time, but accompanying evidences of direct effect on the origin of H. erectus populations are still missing.

The species question regarding Homo habilis remains unresolved. This study tests the null hypothesis that this hominid taxon represents a single paleospecies by comparing the fossils' magnitude and pattern of craniometric variation to samples of extant, large-bodied hominoids including Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus and Homo sapiens . Unlike previous quantitative approaches to this problem, randomization methodology is used to assess the significance of univariate and multivariate measures of variation. The benefits of randomization include its applicability to problems of small sample size, its robusticity in producing statistical probabilities, and its freedom from underlying assumptions concerning the normality of variable distribution. This study demonstrates that the magnitude of variation in H. habilis does not exceed that displayed by the most sexually dimorphic apes such as orang-utans and gorillas, but that the pattern of variation in these early Homo fossils is unlike that shared by any of the modern referents. Although the effects of geological time are considered as possibly responsible for the unique pattern of craniometric variation seen in H. habilis , we interpret these results as providing tentative support for a multiple-species solution, thereby provisionally rejecting the null hypothesis of Homo habilis as a single species.

Des specialistes en paleontologie humaine ont recemment obtenu des resultats selon lesquels la presence de rapports strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) dans les ossements d'hominides du Pleistocene ancien, provenant de Swartkrans (Afrique du Sud), refleterait des differences de regime alimentaire entre l'Homo habilis et l'Australopithecus (Paranthropus) robustus. L'auteur s'interroge sur les possibilites d'une telle analyse appliquee a la recherches de differences de regime alimentaire, ou de differences physiologiques, chez les mâles et femelles des memes especes

Ecological twin species are closely related species inhabiting the same ecological niche. Both micro- and macroevolutions proceed faster in a twin system than within a single species. One proposed hypothesis is that the acceleration of hominoid evolution was caused by the existence of ecological twin species. The complementary species for Homo habilis and Homo erectus were Australopithecus species. Both paleontological and cryptozoological data suggest that Homo sapiens has a complementary species as well. A small population of the latter may still exist today. Specific interaction within the system of two species explains the difficulty in detecting ecological twins of the species. The existence of a hypothetical human species provides the basis of popular talk of a “wildman”.

This target article presents a plausible evolutionary scenario for the emergence of the neural preconditions for language in the hominid lineage. In pleistocene primate lineages there was a paired evolutionary expansion of frontal and parietal neocortex (through certain well-documented adaptive changes associated with manipulative behaviors) resulting, in ancestral hominids, in an incipient Broca's region and in a configurationally unique junction of the parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes of the brain (the POT). On our view, the development of the POT in our ancestors resulted in the neuroanatomical substrate consistent with the ability for representations in modality-neutral association cortex and, as a result of structure-imposing interaction with Broca's area, the hierarchically structured “conceptual structure.” Evidence from paleoneurology and comparative primate neuroanatomy is used to argue thatHomo habilis(2.5–2 million years ago) was the first hominid to have the appropriate gross neuroanatomical configuration to support conceptual structure. We thus suggest that the neural preconditions for language are met inH. habilis. Finally, we advocate a theory of language acquisition that uses conceptual structure as input to the learning procedures, thus bridging the gap between it and language.