Axel G. Ekström, Fotios Alexandros Karakostis, William D. Snyder, Steven Moran
{"title":"Rethinking Hominin Air Sac Loss in Light of Phylogenetically Meaningful Evidence","authors":"Axel G. Ekström, Fotios Alexandros Karakostis, William D. Snyder, Steven Moran","doi":"10.1002/evan.70019","DOIUrl":"10.1002/evan.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The evolution of laryngeal air sacs in hominins has been a subject of considerable debate, with particular attention given to the inferred presence of air sacs in <i>Australopithecus afarensis</i> and inferred absence in Middle and Upper Pleistocene hominins. We challenge several assumptions prevalent in relevant discourse and assert that (1) while exhibiting morphological similarity, it cannot be ruled out that relationships between hyoid morphology and air sac morphology in extant African great apes may reflect convergence; (2) while the only known <i>A. afarensis</i> hyoid exhibits “ape-like” bulla, this feature may have persisted following the loss of air sacs, and not be indicative of their presence per se; (3) because there are currently only five known hominin hyoid bones represented in the fossil record (with a single specimen predating the Middle Pleistocene) the evidential basis for interpreting air sac presence or absence is minimal; and (4) inferences toward a role of sexual selection and communicative behavior in explicating the loss of air sacs in the hominin lineage are undermined by the atypical sexual dimorphism patterns in early hominins. We advocate for a cautious approach to interpreting hominin behavior and evolution which prioritizes data over speculation, and underscore the need for rigorous evidence when constructing evolutionary narratives about early hominin vocal anatomy and its evolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/evan.70019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145087853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Begun Erbaba, Mira Sinha, Elaine E. Guevara, Erin E. Hecht, William D. Hopkins, Chet C. Sherwood
{"title":"Insights From Language-Trained Apes: Brain Network Plasticity and Communication","authors":"Begun Erbaba, Mira Sinha, Elaine E. Guevara, Erin E. Hecht, William D. Hopkins, Chet C. Sherwood","doi":"10.1002/evan.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Language is central to the cognitive and sociocultural traits that distinguish humans, yet the evolutionary emergence of this capacity is far from fully understood. This review explores how the study of the brains of language-trained apes (LTAs) offers a unique and valuable opportunity to tease apart the relative contribution of evolved species differences, behavior, and environment in the emergence of complex communication abilities. For example, when raised in sociolinguistically rich and interactive environments, LTAs show communicative competencies that parallel aspects of early human language acquisition and exhibit altered neuroanatomy, including increased connectivity and laterization in regions associated with language. Sustained and enriched early exposure to symbolic experience may also alter molecular pathways, including modifications in the expression of genes involved in synaptic plasticity, neural connectivity, and cognitive function, thus critically underpinning speech and language processing. This theoretical synthesis highlights how research on language-trained apes can inform our understanding of experience-dependent plasticity in distributed neural networks, providing insights into the evolutionary origins of human communication.</p>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/evan.70018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145012705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marco Boggioni, Andrea Papini, Barbara Coletti, Antonio Profico, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Giorgio Manzi
{"title":"Neanderthal Cranio-Cervical Features: Morphological Integration and Functional Evaluation of Their Early Appearance","authors":"Marco Boggioni, Andrea Papini, Barbara Coletti, Antonio Profico, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Giorgio Manzi","doi":"10.1002/evan.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Neanderthals (<i>Homo neanderthalensis</i>) and their direct ancestors are characterized by a number of derived cranial and postcranial morphological features. Many of these traits first appear in European Middle Pleistocene populations, likely as a result of adaptation and/or genetic drift. According to the “accretion model,” this accumulation of traits was shaped by repeated extreme glacial conditions and associated demographic bottlenecks. However, the functional significance of many of these features—particularly those related to the cervical spine, basal cranium, mandible, and face—remains controversial, in part because they have often been studied in isolation. This paper reviews a set of traits that emerged early in the Neanderthal lineage and attempts to interpret them as part of an integrated morpho-functional system. To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine multiple cranio-cervical traits of <i>Homo neanderthalensis</i> within a coherent, functionally integrated analytical framework.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144929874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Judith M. Burkart, Paola Cerrito, Giancarlo Natalucci, Carel P. van Schaik
{"title":"Cooperative Breeding as a Likely Early Catalyst of Human Evolution","authors":"Judith M. Burkart, Paola Cerrito, Giancarlo Natalucci, Carel P. van Schaik","doi":"10.1002/evan.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70016","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Unlike any other great ape, humans give birth to large, secondarily altricial babies, show precocial social development, have bigger brains that require a long maturation period, and engage in cooperative breeding (CB). These traits, which characterize the human adaptive complex, are intricately linked and must have mutually reinforced each other over evolutionary time. Here, we use recent evidence from paleontology, developmental psychology, and pediatrics, complemented with comparative analyses, to ask what may have triggered this coevolutionary feedback loop: bipedality, direct selection on altriciality, a higher-quality diet, or cooperative breeding. An early adoption of extensive allomaternal care during human evolution, that is, the CB-first model, best accommodates the available data. In particular, CB was a catalyst enabling further increases in brain size, because even though larger brains slow down life history and neurodevelopment and thus lead to a demographic dilemma, CB enabled the necessary increase in birth rates.</p>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/evan.70016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144915002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Cognitive Foundations of Ritual Monumentality: Multicausal Pathways to the Neolithic in Southwest Asia","authors":"Tolga Yıldız","doi":"10.1002/evan.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70017","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This article reconceptualizes the Neolithic transformation in Southwest Asia as a cumulative and recursive process shaped by the interplay of symbolic cognition, ecological thresholds, ritual innovation, and demographic intensification. Departing from linear or monocausal models, it proposes that the emergence of agriculture, sedentism, and monumentality resulted not from discrete breakthroughs but from feedback loops between communication, cooperation, and cosmology. Drawing on recent archeological evidence from sites such as Göbekli Tepe, Körtik Tepe, WF16, and Jericho, as well as theoretical insights from cognitive evolution and ritual theory, the paper argues that symbolic institutions—ritual, architecture, and myth—were not consequences of surplus, but preconditions for its development. It distinguishes between ancient symbolic potential and the formalization of shared meaning into durable, transmittable cultural systems. Rather than treating Göbekli Tepe as an anomaly, the study situates it within a broader regional network of symbolic convergence and architectural innovation, tracing how ritual ecologies stabilized early social complexity. The article concludes by offering a multicausal, testable framework for understanding the Neolithic as a transformation in relations—between humans, environments, and shared representations.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Did Down-Regulated Instincts Enable Human Gene-Culture Coevolution?","authors":"Gerald E. Loeb","doi":"10.1002/evan.70015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70015","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The unique intellectual and cultural attributes of <i>Homo sapiens</i> that arose during the Middle Stone Age are often ascribed to positive evolutionary development of novel physical or personality traits, but attempts to correlate cultural with genetic evolution have been unsuccessful. Humans are also unique, however, in their ability to ignore or override hormonal and pheromonal instincts that define the social structures and behaviors of other animals. Humans can rapidly invade new environments because they invent rather than inherit such behaviors, which cumulatively we call a culture. Downregulation of instincts makes the invention and learning of cultures necessary, which imposes both an opportunity and a burden on individuals and societies. Cultural evolution enables human societies to invent, promulgate, compete and evolve their social structures in a generation or two rather than the hundreds of generations required for significant genetic evolution. Nevertheless, residual instincts may conflict with and delimit novel cultures and their social structures.</p>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/evan.70015","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144843498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Multivariate Basis of Human Brain Evolution: The Prerequisites of Fire Control and Cooking","authors":"Marcelo O. Ortells, Stephon Stewart","doi":"10.1002/evan.70008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70008","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study investigates the evolutionary origins of the human brain, focusing on the trend of increasing size in hominins, while also addressing exceptions such as <i>Homo naledi</i>, <i>Homo floresiensis</i>, and the recent reduction observed in <i>Homo sapiens</i>. It examines hypotheses related to brain enlargement, challenging the Social Brain and Ecological Hypotheses by suggesting that the increase in brain size was not an inevitable response to social complexity or ecological pressures. While the Cooking Hypothesis is considered, it is not identified as the primary driver of brain expansion. Instead, fire control and cooking are proposed as prerequisites for sustaining brain size increases by meeting the energetic demands of larger brains. Additionally, we examine mutations that influenced brain size and complexity and contributed to the genetic variability that was pivotal to brain evolution, particularly in Africa during its final phase.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144815099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revisiting “Tool” for a More Unified and Holistic Definition in Animal Behavior","authors":"Jayashree Mazumder, Parth Randhir Chauhan","doi":"10.1002/evan.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Understanding the concept of “tool” is vital for the study of animal behavior and cognition. The definition of what exactly constitutes a tool, its characteristics, and the corresponding behaviors is pivotal yet challenging due to its often arbitrary and anthropocentric nature. This ambiguity hinders our comprehension and necessitates further exploration into the essence of tools. A precise and widely accepted definition is critical for progress in fields such as anthropology, cognitive science, and evolutionary biology, enabling a more focused study on the evolution of tool use. It is important to identify why and how certain objects become tools among different species, including humans. This paper seeks to refine the definition of a “<i>tool</i>” by synthesizing prior research involving tools, tooling, or tool-using animals, aiming to offer a unified framework that can support and guide future research endeavors in understanding the intricacies and evolution of tool use across species.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144832834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Post-pandemic Inequalities: Evolutionary Anthropological Frameworks for Long-Term Impacts of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic","authors":"Taylor P. van Doren","doi":"10.1002/evan.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The 1918 influenza pandemic was a major mortality event that is well understood in its proximate heterogeneous impacts, but its long-term impacts on inequality are less understood. Within anthropology, evolutionary frameworks such as the epidemiological transitions, biocultural anthropology, and evolutionary medicine can give meaning to ultimate explanations for pandemics' long-term consequences. I seek to identify and shape the gap in the 1918 influenza pandemic literature around the analysis of post-pandemic inequalities compared with pre-pandemic and pandemic period inequalities. I discuss six papers that address consequences on the demography and epidemiology of surviving populations and 11 papers that engage with the fetal origins hypothesis to understand unequal long-term impacts on cohorts exposed to stressful intrauterine environments during the pandemic. I contextualize existing knowledge of unequal impacts within evolutionary anthropological theory and argue that evolutionary anthropology is well suited to lead holistic research on ultimate determinants of long-term pandemic consequences.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144758555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human-Dog Symbiosis and Ecological Dynamics in the Arctic","authors":"Emma Vitale, Tatiana R. Feuerborn, Matthew Walls","doi":"10.1002/evan.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Since the Late Pleistocene, humans and dogs have coevolved in the Arctic, forming a symbiotic relationship essential to survival, mobility, and adaptation. Archeological evidence shows dogs were used as traction animals by the Early Holocene, ultimately facilitating Inuit expansion and shaping Arctic settlement patterns. Despite recent declines in sled dog populations due to colonial factors, climate change, and cultural shifts, dogs remain central to Inuit identity. This paper frames the human-dog cooperation as a dynamic system of mutual learning, or <i>enskilment</i>, where both species acquire shared skills through collaboration. Tools like harnesses and whips serve as communicative devices within this system. Drawing on archeological and contemporary Inuit practices, the study highlights how embodied knowledge and animal agency contribute to ecological resilience. By viewing the Arctic as a co-managed landscape shaped by human-dog cooperation, the paper challenges static views of adaptation and underscores the enduring significance of this interspecies relationship.</p>","PeriodicalId":47849,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Anthropology","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/evan.70009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144705487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}