American Journal of Biological Anthropology最新文献

{"title":"Advancing Scientific Collection-Based Research With the Global Registry of Scientific Collections (GRSciColl)","authors":"Yuting Gao,&nbsp;Steven R. Leigh","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70184","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70184","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Natural history museums provide unique and extremely valuable research resources. However, relatively few museums have externally discoverable records. Biological anthropologists frequently rely on materials in these collections—including skeletal remains, fossil hominins, and nonhuman primate materials—to study human evolution, functional anatomy, and genetic variation. Unfortunately, traditional means of sourcing museum resources, such as curator consultations, published references, or informal research networks, may be inefficient, biased toward certain institutions, and out of date. The Global Registry of Scientific Collections (GRSciColl), part of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), addresses these challenges by centralizing metadata on scientific collections, enabling researchers to locate research materials, reduce biases, and broaden sampling diversity. GRSciColl supports interdisciplinary collaborations, digital resource sharing, and educational applications, such as data literacy training. It also standardizes institutional references, improves provenance tracking, and data interoperability. By increasing access to collections—including to researchers lacking financial resources—GRSciColl bridges the gap between physical museum holdings and digital research needs, fostering innovation in biological anthropology and other fields.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145739777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Financial Barriers to Success: Opening the Discussion of the Financial Burdens and Graduate Student Experiences in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology","authors":"Abigail Elaine Houkes,&nbsp;Laura Cirillo","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70182","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examines the financial barriers faced by graduate students in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology, addressing a critical gap by incorporating recent perspectives. Prior research has highlighted financial inequities within the field, yet few studies focus on burdens impacting students' well-being, academic success, and career paths. This research aims to amplify student voices and identify actionable, student-centered solutions to alleviate financial strain and support retention.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A 29-question anonymous survey was distributed to current and recent biological anthropology graduate students (<i>n</i> = 103) across the United States. Questions covered various financial factors, including institutional costs, students' lived experiences with strain, and career advancement expenses. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative data and thematic coding for qualitative responses.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The survey revealed that nearly all participants depend on some form of financial aid (assistantships, grants, fellowships, or scholarships), with many reporting insufficient stipends, unmet living costs, and a need for external employment. Over half-expressed concerns about financial impacts on career opportunities, with many using loans or credit to cover essential costs like conferences, travel, and program fees. Financial strain significantly impacted well-being, with 58% considering leaving the field due to financial pressures.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The findings underscore the urgent need for institutional reforms to ensure livable wages, transparent funding, and professional development support. Addressing these barriers is essential for retaining diverse talent and fostering a sustainable future in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. This study advocates practical solutions to reduce financial inequity and promote a more inclusive academic environment.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajpa.70182","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145739779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Introducing Contextual Observations in Support of All Gender Expressions (COSAGE): A Crowdsourced Guide for Documenting Assigned Sex at Birth and Gender Expression in Human Identification Efforts","authors":"Samantha H. Blatt,&nbsp;Mariyam I. Isa,&nbsp;Amy R. Michael,&nbsp;Taylor M. Flaherty,&nbsp;Ashley Smith,&nbsp;Samantha Unwin,&nbsp;Stephanie Howard","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70180","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajpa.70180","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Forensic practitioners will encounter unidentified decedents who are transgender and gender diverse (TGD) in their casework. While gender identity cannot be estimated from the skeleton, nor known until a decedent is positively identified, physical and contextual evidence of gender expression may inform biocultural identification efforts. The Contextual Observations in Support of All Gender Expressions (COSAGE) form is introduced as a tool meant to mitigate cognitive biases and guide a biocultural approach for considering evidence of gender expression in unidentified persons cases.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>COSAGE was developed through a crowdsourcing approach with input from anthropologists, TGD community members, and authors' positionality. The form allows users to document gender-affirming personal items and medical procedures alongside more traditional skeletal sex estimation and contextual evidence in unidentified decedent cases. The form is a “living” document designed to evolve with changes to skeletal methods, gender-affirming personal items, medical procedures, and terminology.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The COSAGE form is a four-part guide for documenting (1) the analyst's decision-making process for estimating skeletal sex and assigned sex at birth (ASAB), (2) skeletal evidence of gender-affirming care, (3) nonskeletal evidence of gender-affirming care and other aspects of physical appearance, and (4) associated personal items. Examples of potentially gender-affirming items and skeletal modifications are embedded within the form and suggestions are presented for reporting this evidence within unidentified persons databases.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The COSAGE form contributes to a growing call to apply biocultural approaches in forensic anthropology casework. Practitioners can use the form to better document contextual information that may aid identification efforts in cases involving TGD decedents.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145709518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Patterning Cascade Model and Human Mandibular Premolar Variation","authors":"Molly Militello,&nbsp;Dori E. Kenessey,&nbsp;Christopher M. Stojanowski,&nbsp;Kathleen S. Paul","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70178","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajpa.70178","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The patterning cascade model (PCM) provides a predictive framework for examining crown variation and posits that tooth size and enamel knot spacing, along with surrounding inhibitory fields, strongly influence crown morphology. The aim of this study is to determine if mandibular premolar variation aligns with predictions derived from the PCM.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Using three-dimensional (3D) scans and two-dimensional (2D) images of dental casts representing a contemporary human sample (<i>n</i> = 63), we collected crown area, cusp area, and intercusp distance measurements, including 3D distances to account for differential cusp height. After controlling for size variation, relative measurements were subjected to analyses of variance, <i>t</i>-tests, dichotomized generalized linear model regressions, and linear regressions to examine their relationship with lingual cusp number.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Relative intercusp distance between the mesiolingual cusp and its distal neighbor differs significantly between two and three lingual cusped premolars; those with two lingual cusps exhibit greater distance, on average. Two lingual cusped P₄s exhibit greater 2D distance between the buccal and mesiolingual cusps. Models involving the relative area of the mesiolingual cusp and its distal neighbor were significant, with three lingual cusped P₄s exhibiting smaller cusps.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>These findings partially align with PCM-derived expectations. The mesiolingual cusp is involved in all significant findings, which suggests its precursory enamel knot placement and inhibitory zoning have the greatest influence on mandibular premolar morphology. Generally, 2D and 3D analyses yield similar results, but the strength of the relationship is greater for 3D measurements in P₃s, which are characterized by marked cusp height disparities.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12687927/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145709537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can Asymmetrical Mechanical Loading Be Accurately Inferred From the Analysis of Skeletal Material?","authors":"Antonio Profico,&nbsp;Nathan Jeffery,&nbsp;Fotios Alexandros Karakostis","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70176","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajpa.70176","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Reconstructing habitual limb preference in the past is crucial for understanding the evolution of hominin behavior. However, our ability to reliably identify asymmetrical behaviors from bone remains is limited due to a lack of experimental evidence directly correlating a history of loading asymmetry with skeletal asymmetry. We address this gap by analyzing an existing laboratory sample of rats subjected to asymmetric loading, relying on four methodological approaches that address both external and internal bone morphology.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Data were derived from nine genetically consistent Wistar rat tibiofibulae, exposed to controlled asymmetrical loading. Asymmetry was evaluated using 3D geometric morphometrics for analyzing bone shape, cross-sectional geometry for assessing biomechanical strength, cortical thickness mapping of compact bone distribution, and V.E.R.A. (1.0 and 2.0) for quantifying 3D muscle attachment sites.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The findings revealed a clear association between asymmetrical loading and bone asymmetry, particularly in the distal periosteum and medio-anterior midshaft, which exhibited notable 3D shape changes and increased cortical thickness. Additionally, polar second moment of area values were higher in stimulated limbs, indicating improved biomechanical function. The 3D entheseal areas of the stimulated limbs were also proportionally larger, with no apparent association with allometric factors.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study provides experimental proof-of-concept that asymmetric biomechanical loading influences skeletal bilateral asymmetry, suggesting that reconstructing limb preference is feasible using these methods. Future applications could enhance our understanding of the evolution of hominin handedness and its role in ancient lifeways.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajpa.70176","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145688332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional Morphology of the Scaphoid in Extant African Apes, Humans and Fossil Hominins","authors":"Nadine G. Steer,&nbsp;Ameline Bardo,&nbsp;Thomas W. Davies,&nbsp;Antonio Rosas,&nbsp;Matthew M. Skinner,&nbsp;Tracy L. Kivell","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70157","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajpa.70157","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The morphology of the hominoid scaphoid has played a key role in functional and evolutionary hypotheses related to the emergence of hominin bipedalism and tool use. However, the scaphoid's complex morphology is challenging to comparatively analyze via traditional 2D linear measurements. This study quantifies scaphoid morphology utilizing 3D geometric morphometrics (3D GM) in African apes, humans and extinct hominins to provide a more holistic functional understanding of scaphoid morphology.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We use 3D GM, including anatomical and sliding semi-landmarks, to quantify scaphoid morphology in a comparative sample of African apes (<i>Gorilla</i>, <i>Gorilla beringei</i>, <i>Pan paniscus</i> and <i>Pan troglodytes</i>) (<i>N</i> = 54), extant and fossil <i>Homo sapiens</i> (<i>N</i> = 20) and nine fossil hominin scaphoids from <i>Australopithecus</i> sp., <i>Australopithecus sediba</i>, <i>Homo naledi</i> and Neandertals.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Principal component analysis indicates that extant species can be distinguished by differences in scaphoid shape that are consistent with variation in hand use during locomotion and manipulation. The australopith scaphoids plot between the African ape and modern human distributions, whereas <i>H. naledi</i> falls between <i>Gorilla</i> and human distributions.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Results confirm previous studies describing differences between extant African apes and modern human scaphoids that were interpreted as advantageous for knuckle-walking and forceful manipulation, respectively. However, we highlight greater variation between <i>Pan</i> and <i>Gorilla</i> than previously recognized. The fossil hominin scaphoids present differing mosaics of joint orientation and shape, creating a distinct overall morphology in each hominin species. This may reflect differing functional pressures acting upon hominin wrists resulting from disparate combinations of locomotor and manipulative behaviors.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajpa.70157","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145678843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mozambique's Colonial-Era Non-Human Primate Collection at the National Museum of Natural History and Science of Lisbon: Taxonomy, Provenance, and Historical Context","authors":"Matilde Osório,&nbsp;Cecilia Veracini","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70174","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajpa.70174","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objectives</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study reviews Mozambique's non-human primate collection housed at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) in Lisbon. The collection originates from the Zoological Missions of Mozambique (1948 and 1955) carried out under Portuguese colonial administration. The objectives of this work were to: i. reorganize the collection to facilitate future research; ii. compile data on the species represented, number of individuals, their sex, age, and geographic provenance; iii. document the historical and sociocultural context of the Zoological Missions with particular attention to the Gorongosa region.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Material and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Methods Include: 1. Zoological Examination of Each Specimen (Taxonomic Identification and Updated Nomenclature); 2. Historical Research on the Collection (e.g., Collectors, Collection Sites, and Methodologies) Drawing on Materials From Historical Archive, Institute of Tropical Scientific Research, Zoology Centre Collection, University of Lisbon.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A total of 34 individuals were identified (26 skulls and 30 skins), comprising 26 individuals from the family Galagidae (<i>Otolemur crassicaudatus, Paragalago granti, Galago moholi</i>) and 8 individuals from the family Cercopithecidae (<i>Chlorocebus pygerythrus, Cercopithecus mitis, Papio ursinus</i>). Among these, 13 individuals (eight <i>O. crassicaudatus</i>, one <i>Paragalago granti</i>, one <i>C. pygerythrus</i> and three <i>P. ursinus</i>) originated from the historical Gorongosa region. Historical evidence indicates that Portuguese zoologists considered Gorongosa as a prime area for the establishment of a national park, speculating that it could also be used for breeding and domestication of large fauna.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The review of Portugal's primate collections offers new opportunities to investigate primate taxa that still present taxonomic and evolutionary challenges. Understanding the historical and sociopolitical contexts in which these collections were assembled is essential for reinterpreting their scientific and cultural value within contemporary biological anthropology.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12673634/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145669384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Proceedings of the 94th Business Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists","authors":"Kristi L. Lewton","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70175","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajpa.70175","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145655946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Embodiment and Lived Experience in Human Biology.","authors":"Alanna E F Rudzik","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70120","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Lived experience is concerned with the ways that humans experience the world as embodied subjects. Lived experience and embodiment have been of growing interest to biological anthropologists across the subdiscipline. The focus of this article is how human biologists have examined and understand lived experience and embodiment. The article is structured in three sections. The first provides an overview of theories of phenomenology, embodiment, and \"the body\" from the realms of philosophy, medical anthropology and public health. The second reviews work within human biology that has made use of these theoretical concepts, either implicitly or explicitly. For scholars of human biology attaining statistical power for quantitative analyses of biological data drives an emphasis on larger sample sizes or analysis of decontextualised secondary data. Ethnographic engagement with research participants' lived experience, analyzed in association with biological findings, is rather rare. Particular attention is paid to what has been termed \"ethnographic human biology\" and to exemplars of this approach. The closing section of the paper presents a call for biological anthropologists to engage with an integrated anthropology, based around theories of embodiment and lived experience, in light of recent advances that have complicated our understanding of evolutionary processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 Suppl 80 ","pages":"e70120"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146067625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evolving a Field: Can Evolutionary Theory Provide What the Study of Human Evolution Requires?","authors":"Charles C Roseman, Benjamin M Auerbach","doi":"10.1002/ajpa.70127","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajpa.70127","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) is a school of thought that maintains that genetic determination and natural selection are over-emphasized in the study of evolution at the expense of non-genetic inheritance and processes of evolution beyond selection. Its proponents call for the de-emphasis of genetics and the adoption of a broader model of inheritance that includes cultural and epigenetic transgenerational effects and strong adaptive phenotypic plasticity. Presenting itself as a radical alternative to what it claims is a rigid and ossified theoretical orthodoxy, the EES has lately gained considerable traction among scholars of human evolution, and a distinct sub-branch of the EES unique to the biological anthropological study of human evolution has emerged (the EES in human evolution). To date, however, no direct comparison between the EES in human evolution and other contemporary evolutionary approaches has been attempted to evaluate whether the EES in human evolution affords researchers an edge in articulating good questions and structuring research programs to answer them. After reviewing the landscape of evolutionary theory, we evaluate whether the EES in human evolution is capable of delivering the processually pluralistic vision of evolution it has long promised and whether it brings something that the decades-long ongoing synthesis (OS) of evolutionary theory since the modern synthesis does not. We then conduct a head-to-head comparison to evaluate the relative explanatory efficacy of the EES and our preferred OS theoretical framework on several issues of human morphological evolution. We demonstrate that evolutionary perspectives as drawn from the OS have a much more clarifying effect on the investigation of human evolution than their EES-based competitor. Far from being a radical extension of evolutionary thought, the EES in human evolution offers little more than another idiom in which to tell adaptationist stories and triumphalist narratives of the ascent of humanity. Theory from the OS opens up new horizons of possible investigation of human evolution in a uniquely processually pluralistic and rigorous framework.</p>","PeriodicalId":29759,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Biological Anthropology","volume":"188 Suppl 80 ","pages":"e70127"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12842895/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146067584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}