Journal of Human Evolution最新文献

{"title":"Uniform, circular, and shallow enamel pitting in hominins: Prevalence, morphological associations, and potential taxonomic significance","authors":"Ian Towle ,&nbsp;Mackie C. O'Hara ,&nbsp;A.B. Leece ,&nbsp;Andy I.R. Herries ,&nbsp;Afua Adjei ,&nbsp;Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg ,&nbsp;Marina Martínez de Pinillos ,&nbsp;Mario Modesto-Mata ,&nbsp;Arthur Thiebaut ,&nbsp;Raquel Hernando ,&nbsp;Joel D. Irish ,&nbsp;Franck Guy ,&nbsp;Jean-Renaud Boisserie ,&nbsp;Leslea J. Hlusko","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103703","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103703","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores a particular form of enamel pitting originally identified in <em>Paranthropus robustus</em>. We call this uniform, circular, and shallow (UCS) pitting to distinguish it from more irregular and nonuniform defects often associated with enamel hypoplasia. We pose the hypothesis that UCS pitting is unique to the genus <em>Paranthropus</em>. We test this by investigating hominin dental remains from the ca. 3.4 Ma to ca. 1.1 Ma fossiliferous sequence at Omo, Ethiopia (<em>n</em> = 76) to look for evidence of UCS pitting in an assemblage that includes at least three hominin genera (<em>Australopithecus</em>, <em>Paranthropus</em>, and <em>Homo</em>). We also examine the correlation between UCS pitting, tooth size, enamel thickness, and cusp proportions in samples from both eastern Africa (Omo) and southern Africa (Drimolen Main Quarry ∼2.04–1.95 Ma, Swartkrans ∼1.9–1.4 Ma, and Kromdraai ∼1.95–1.78 Ma). In the Omo specimens, we found UCS pitting similar to that seen in <em>P. robustus</em>. While we observed this pitting on five of 24 permanent teeth and two deciduous molars from both <em>Paranthropus aethiopicus</em> and <em>Paranthropus boisei</em>, we also identified UCS pitting on five of 13 non-<em>Paranthropus</em> hominin permanent posterior teeth from Member B (∼3.0 Ma). Our correlation studies yielded no association between the presence of UCS pitting and variation in tooth size, enamel thickness, or cusp proportions. The consistent appearance and characteristics of UCS pitting suggest a shared etiology. Our findings also suggest that UCS pitting may result from a genetic effect related to enamel formation, potentially in association with specific environmental or dietary factors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 103703"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144221242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The nutritional quality of male chimpanzee diets in a semiarid savanna","authors":"Stacy Lindshield ,&nbsp;Landing Badji ,&nbsp;Papa Ibnou Ndiaye ,&nbsp;Sylvia Ortmann ,&nbsp;Kaia J. Tombak ,&nbsp;Jill Pruetz ,&nbsp;Jessica M. Rothman","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103684","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103684","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nutritional ecology is vital to understanding food selection in chimpanzees (<em>Pan troglodytes</em>). However, there are knowledge gaps for chimpanzees in savanna landscapes concerning the nutrients of their foods as well as their daily energy and macronutrient intakes. The aims of this study are to (1) examine how adult male chimpanzees in a semiarid savanna select their foods and (2) compare chimpanzee foods between the savanna and forest. We conducted full-day focal follows to observe food processing behavior (87 days) and comprehensively measure daily food intake (25 days). We sampled 49 plant and four insect species to estimate their energy and macronutrient contents. Food consumption correlated positively with its profitability (caloric yield per hour) but was not associated with food abundance or distribution. Daily intakes of metabolizable energy and of water-soluble sugars were higher in the baobab (<em>Adansonia digitata</em>) season than in the non-baobab season and social rank boosted sugar intakes, suggesting that high-sugar foods are prized by Fongoli chimpanzees. In support of the idea that a scarcity of ripe fleshy fruits is an environmental pressure at Fongoli, chimpanzees commonly ingested unripe fruit and seeds, mostly of nonfleshy types, potentially for their protein content or as moderate sources of sugar, fat, and water. Our study indicates that the savanna is not a low-protein habitat and suggests ways that chimpanzees—and potentially early hominins—have adapted to meet daily nutritional requirements in a savanna environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 103684"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143947673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cranial vault thickness, its internal organization, and its relationship with endocranial shape in Neanderthals and modern humans","authors":"Sélim Natahi ,&nbsp;Simon Neubauer ,&nbsp;Zewdi J. Tsegai ,&nbsp;Jean-Jacques Hublin ,&nbsp;Philipp Gunz","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103683","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103683","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Compared to the more elongated crania of Neanderthals, modern humans have a rounder, more globular cranial vault. The factors contributing to this globular cranial and endocranial morphology remain poorly understood. Cranial vault thickness (CVT) plays a role in shaping the braincase. It has been proposed that CVT variation in hominins reflects distinct stimuli influencing the cranial vault layers to different degrees. We aim to determine to what extent CVT differences could explain the well-documented endocranial shape differences between modern humans and Neanderthals. Additionally, we quantify the contributions of each cranial vault layer—the inner and outer tables and the diploë—to elucidate the processes driving CVT variation. We analyzed crania from seven Neanderthals and 75 modern humans using a ray casting method to measure cortical, diploic, and overall CVT. We generated morphometric maps of thickness distributions for each cranial vault layer. We then quantified the endocranial shape using geometric morphometrics and analyzed its relationship with CVT using two-block partial least squares analysis and regression models. Our findings reveal that Neanderthals generally have greater CVT and thicker layers of the cranial vault than modern humans. However, their ranges overlap with those of modern humans. The thicker vaults of Neanderthals are primarily driven by the diploic layer, with notable differences in thickness distribution patterns. Additionally, the inner and outer cortical tables exhibit distinct thickness distribution patterns between the two groups. Structural differences between the parietal bones of Neanderthals and modern humans are particularly pronounced. Furthermore, we observed a unique correspondence between CVT and endocranial shape in modern humans, which is not shared by Neanderthals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 103683"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143935280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “Maxilla of Siamopithecus eocaenus (Anthropoidea, Primates) from the Paleogene of Krabi, Thailand, and its taxonomic status” [J. Hum. Evol. 198 (2025) 103614]","authors":"Yaowalak Chaimanee ,&nbsp;Sasidhorn Khansubha ,&nbsp;Olivier Chavasseau ,&nbsp;Arnaud Mazurier ,&nbsp;Jean-Jacques Jaeger","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103701","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103701","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 103701"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144000027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Virtual reconstruction and geometric morphometric analysis of the Kocabaş fossil hominin from Turkey and implications for taxonomy and evolutionary significance: A commentary on Mori et al. (2024)","authors":"Amélie Vialet ,&nbsp;Sandrine Prat ,&nbsp;Dominique Grimaud-Hervé ,&nbsp;Anne-Elisabeth Lebatard ,&nbsp;Nicolas Boulbes ,&nbsp;Serdar Mayda ,&nbsp;Pierre Rochette ,&nbsp;Christophe Falguères ,&nbsp;Anne-Marie Moigne ,&nbsp;Jean-Jacques Bahain ,&nbsp;Mehmet Cihat Alçiçek","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103691","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103691","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"204 ","pages":"Article 103691"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A phylogenetic perspective on the evolution of early hominin foot morphology","authors":"Yeganeh Sekhavati ,&nbsp;Thomas Cody Prang ,&nbsp;David Strait","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103682","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103682","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Changes in foot morphology have played a crucial role in the evolution of bipedalism. Examining the evolution of pedal characters among hominins makes it possible to identify when and where key anatomical changes required for bipedalism evolved. This study uses ancestral character reconstruction to investigate foot morphology in the <em>Homo</em> + <em>Pan</em> last common ancestor and subsequent nodes in the hominin phylogeny. We explore the pattern of hominin foot evolution and examine the presence of terrestrial and arboreal adaptations at hominin ancestral nodes. In this study, we analyzed 62 discrete pedal characters hypothesized to be functionally significant. Our likelihood-based approach supports the hypothesis of a <em>Pan</em>-like last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. The earliest foot synapomorphies in hominins are related to foot and ankle eversion and midtarsal stability. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that lateral midfoot stability might have evolved before medial midfoot stability. Moreover, several homoplasies were inferred across different taxa, particularly related to features hypothesized to reflect joint mobility and the longitudinal arch. Finally, the <em>Paranthropus</em> and the <em>Australopithecus africanus</em> + <em>Australopithecus sediba</em> clades evolved arboreal characteristics, suggesting adaptations for arboreality. Overall, the results demonstrate how pedal characters evolved in hominins from an African ape–like ancestor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 103682"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143907648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effects of carnivore diversity on scavenging opportunities and hominin range expansion during Out of Africa I","authors":"Reed Coil","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103680","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103680","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Numerous extrinsic hypotheses explaining Out of Africa I (OoA I), like faunal turnover and hominins following fauna, have been rejected based on paleoecological models. Others have explored the importance of the hominin intrusion into the carnivore guild. Here, I build on this latter research by proposing the complementary carnivore guild flexibility hypothesis (CGFH). In eastern Africa, carnivore richness peaked around 3 Ma and declined gradually until shortly after 2 Ma. This timeline coincides with the development of early lithic technologies and initial evidence of the butchery of large mammals, thus implying that increased hominin carnivory impacted endemic carnivore diversity through the transition from passive to confrontational scavenging. The CGFH posits that the relatively stable carnivore diversity and richness in Eurasia permitted hominin range expansion into Eurasian habitats after 2 Ma due to scavenging opportunities along continuously overlapping carnivore ranges. This study tests the CGFH by examining carnivore richness at African and Eurasian sites covering intervals before, during, and after the initial OoA I dispersals. This study builds on previous hypotheses about the role of carnivore guilds in hominin dispersals while tying in theoretical models on modes of early hominin carnivory and actualistic research on scavenging opportunities resulting from carnivore guild composition. In support of the CGFH, carnivore richness in Eurasia is higher than in Africa, which likely facilitated range expansion by hominins during OoA I. Furthermore, decreases in carnivore richness are evident in Eurasia at the end of the Early Pleistocene, which happen within a few hundred thousand years of sustained hominin presence in certain regions, like southwestern Europe and eastern Asia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 103680"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143879451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional and behavioral variation in intrinsic hand and foot digit proportions in primates","authors":"Séverine L.D. Toussaint ,&nbsp;Vincent D'Amato ,&nbsp;Joanna Desmidt ,&nbsp;Mélanie Berthet ,&nbsp;Benoît Quintard ,&nbsp;François Druelle","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103679","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103679","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The relative elongation of the digits on the autopods has long been considered as an adaptation for an arboreal lifestyle shared by several tetrapods. In primates, this morphological adaptation constitutes one of the defining characters of the order and is correlated to their enhanced manual and pedal grasping capabilities. However, primates are highly diversified in terms of body mass and locomotor repertoire, and it remains unclear to what extent the elongation of proximal and intermediate phalanges relative to metapodials (i.e., the phalangeal index) correlates with body mass or grasping performances during arboreal locomotion. In this study, we tested the effect of body mass, grasping performance, and phylogeny on the manual and pedal phalangeal indexes in 58 species of nonhuman primates, including strepsirrhines, platyrrhines, and catarrhines. We computed a grasping score as a proxy for grasping performance based on the known locomotor repertoire of each species. We found that body mass negatively correlates with the intrinsic digit proportions of the hand, whereas the grasping score positively correlates with the intrinsic digit proportions of both the hand and foot. Our results highlight the different functional roles of the hand and foot in nonhuman primates. The hand is more influenced by changes in body size (allometric constraints), while the foot primarily functions to anchor to arboreal supports. Moreover, finger elongation appears most critical for enhancing grasping performance in species weighing over 5 kg as the general decrease in power-to-weight ratio and the specific postural adaptations in larger species likely increase locomotor constraints on the forelimb. By building a finer model of the morphofunctional complexes of the hand and foot in primates, linking phalangeal index, body mass, and locomotor repertoire, this comparative study will also help to better understand the evolution of autopodial adaptations in other arboreal models such as in rodents and marsupials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 103679"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143881317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The adaptive function of the human ankle joint complex during walking on uneven terrains with implications for hominin locomotion","authors":"Zacchariah M. Apolito ,&nbsp;Kevin G. Palmisano ,&nbsp;Nicholas B. Holowka","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103678","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103678","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hominins evolved in a vast diversity of natural environments with terrains that pose different biomechanical challenges, including uneven surfaces that can impact balance control during bipedal walking. Previous experimental research has identified an ‘ankle strategy’ for maintaining balance, wherein motion at the human ankle joint complex (AJC; the subtalar and talocrural joints) is used to help position the foot under the body. However, the role of the ankle strategy during uneven surface walking is currently unknown, and elucidating this role could help us understand the evolution of the hominin AJC and its potential adaptive function in bipedal walking on natural terrains. Here, we collected three-dimensional kinematic, kinetic, and electromyographic data from 17 human participants who walked barefoot on a flat, even surface and on an uneven surface consisting of tiered blocks of ethylene-vinyl acetate foam, with a repeating 0.8–2.4 cm height variation. We developed linear mixed-effect models, incorporating participant identity as a random effect and walking surface condition as a fixed effect. Type 3 analyses of variance were employed to evaluate differences across surface conditions. On the uneven surface, participants averaged 38% and 28% greater AJC frontal plane ranges of motion and joint moments, respectively, during the first half of the stance phase (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) and had greater coactivation between the fibularis longus and tibialis anterior muscles during single-limb support (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.02). These results suggest that AJC mobility is critical for balance on uneven surfaces, and therefore, hominins may have experienced selective pressure to maintain some of the joint compliance of more arboreally adapted ancestors. However, this retained mobility comes with the trade-off of susceptibility to joint injury, meaning that hominins must rely on muscles like the fibularis longus to stabilize the ankle when walking on natural terrains.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 103678"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143879415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New insights into the Neanderthal pelvis morphology based on a partial os coxae from El Sidrón (Asturias, Spain)","authors":"Nicole Torres-Tamayo ,&nbsp;Markus Bastir ,&nbsp;Caroline VanSickle ,&nbsp;Antonio García-Tabernero ,&nbsp;Marco de la Rasilla ,&nbsp;Antonio Rosas","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103666","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103666","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Neanderthal pelvis exhibits distinctive features compared to modern humans, including wider and more flared iliac blades, a more anteriorly positioned sacrum, and a longer and thinner, outwardly oriented pubic bone. Each new addition to the pelvic fossil record is significant for enhancing our understanding of Neanderthal morphology and variation. Here, we present SD-1663, the most complete adult os coxae fragment recovered from the El Sidrón site in Asturias (Spain), dated to approximately 49 ka. We carried out a detailed description and quantitative analysis of SD-1663 within a comparative framework that includes other notable pelvic fossil specimens. Utilizing traditional and three-dimensional morphometric techniques, we assessed the morphological characteristics of SD-1663 focusing on dimensions and anatomical landmarks that distinguish Neanderthal pelves from those of other hominins. The analyses reveal that SD-1663 was a young adult male with features and size that clustered with other Neanderthals in our comparative sample. However, SD-1663 also shares significant morphological affinities with earlier Pleistocene <em>Homo</em> specimens such as KNM-ER 3228 (<em>Homo erectus</em>), suggesting a broader range of pelvic variation within Neanderthals than previously recognized. This discovery contributes to expanding the Neanderthal range of anatomical diversity, indicating that the Neanderthal pelvis may have been more variable than the current fossil record suggests. It also underscores the importance of continued excavation and analysis of Neanderthal remains to fully comprehend the scope of their anatomical adaptations and evolutionary history. SD-1663 thus represents a valuable addition to the fossil record, offering new perspectives on Neanderthal pelvis morphology and its variation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 103666"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143867972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}