Journal of Human Evolution最新文献

{"title":"Ecomorphology in Kenya's Koobi Fora Formation: Reconstructing Early Pleistocene hominin paleoenvironments with 3D geometric morphometric analyses of bovid metapodials","authors":"Megan Malherbe ,&nbsp;Nicole Webb ,&nbsp;Magdalena Palisson-Kramer ,&nbsp;Emmanuel K. Ndiema ,&nbsp;David R. Braun ,&nbsp;Martin Haeusler ,&nbsp;Frances Forrest","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103681","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103681","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research presents a new method of ecological morphology (ecomorphology) analysis using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics to quantify shape variation in extant bovid metapodials with known habitat preferences. Extant data were used to create a model for classifying bones into distinct habitat categories and to test functional hypotheses related to locomotor behavior in different habitats. The model was then applied to fossils from the Koobi Fora Formation, Kenya, to assess the environmental context during important events in hominin evolution. The use of three-dimensional geometric morphometrics demonstrates significant improvement over traditional methods using caliper measurements. Discriminant function analysis successfully classified 94% of metacarpals and 93% of metatarsals into their correct habitat categories for modern specimens. The protocol was reduced to a subset of landmarks focused on the distal epiphyses. This model produced greater overlap, but classification success rates remained high, with 82% and 83% correct classification for modern metacarpals and metatarsals, respectively. We applied the reduced model to metapodials from Upper Burgi (1.98–1.87 Ma), KBS (1.87–1.56 Ma), and Okote (1.56–1.38 Ma) members in the Koobi Fora Formation. This location is important to understanding human evolution, fossil diversity, and paleoecology. Moreover, previous studies on faunal abundance, paleosol carbonates, and carbon isotopes provide a robust framework to compare the findings of this study. Our analyses classified the majority of fossil specimens as open-habitat dwellers, with a few specimens grouped as closed-adapted, the highest number of these falling within the Okote Member sample. This suggests that open and likely xeric environments dominated the East Turkana region during the Early Pleistocene. These findings are consistent with many previous reconstructions, though with a more open signal for the Okote Member than expected based on bovid abundance research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 103681"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864814","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":"Serial reconstruction of Hominini manual phalanges","authors":"Miguel López-Cano ,&nbsp;Markus Bastir","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103674","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103674","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Serial morphology is the study of repeating, sequentially arranged structures in organisms, focusing on their development, organization, and evolutionary significance. Manual digits in primates, exhibiting proximodistal and radioulnar homology, can be analyzed using a serial morphological approach. This method offers a potential tool for reconstructing serial elements of hominin fossil record. Therefore, this study aims to analyze serial homology in proximal and intermediate phalanges of extant and extinct Hominini species to validate a novel methodology for reconstructing missing bones within the hand. For this purpose, we designed a template (27 true landmarks and 128 curve semilandmarks) for proximal and intermediate phalanges of digits II–V, applied to <em>Homo sapiens</em> (<em>n</em> = 125), <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> (<em>n</em> = 9), <em>Homo naledi</em> (<em>n</em> = 9), <em>Australopithecus sediba</em> (<em>n</em> = 2), and <em>Pan troglodytes</em> (<em>n</em> = 122). Missing data were estimated using bilateral symmetry or geometric estimation methods. We used principal component analysis to quantify and examine morphological variability for each phalanx. Each serially reconstructed phalanx was validated by comparing the estimated to the original morphology using generalized Procrustes analysis and Procrustes distances, principal component analysis, and the Mann-Whitney <em>U</em> test. The results highlight both similarities and differences in serial homology between <em>Pan</em> and hominins, reflecting a shared developmental ‘blueprint’ alongside interspecific morphological variations influenced by genetic and functional factors. Finally, serial reconstruction with homologous elements is possible in the proximal and intermediate manual phalanges of Hominini, being more accurate with a proximal-proximal or intermediate-intermediate disposition, offering potential for reconstructing missing fossil hominin manual phalanges.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"203 ","pages":"Article 103674"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143854365","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":"Re-evaluating Omo 105-7, a provisional hominin last lumbar vertebra from the Lower Omo Basin (Plio-Pleistocene) of Ethiopia","authors":"Xue Wang ,&nbsp;Marc R. Meyer ,&nbsp;Scott A. Williams","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103676","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103676","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 103676"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143786035","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":"Aurignacian groups at Isturitz (France) adapted to a shifting environment upon their arrival in Western Europe ∼42,000 years ago","authors":"E. Berlioz ,&nbsp;M. Fernández-García ,&nbsp;M.-C. Soulier ,&nbsp;L. Agudo-Pérez ,&nbsp;G. Amorós ,&nbsp;C. Normand ,&nbsp;A.B. Marín-Arroyo","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103665","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103665","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Marine Isotope Stage 3 is a context of considerable climatic instability. Establishing the link between global climate changes and their impact on the local ecological contexts and prey exploited by human populations is challenging. Still, it is necessary to understand better the local conditions where humans lived to unravel how they adapted to fluctuating environmental conditions. Here, we address this question by studying 250 osteodental elements from animals hunted and consumed by human groups at Isturitz, a rich and well-documented French archaeological site and one of the earliest in Western Europe where the Aurignacian technoculture has been attested. To do so, we set up a multiproxy approach (archaeozoology, three-dimensional dental microwear texture analyses, and stable isotopic analyses of δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C in enamel bioapatite and δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, and δ³⁴S in bone collagen) that informs us on a timeline from the first years to the last few days of an animal's life. We reconstructed their ecologies and paleoenvironments during the different Aurignacian phases at Isturitz. Our findings indicate that the first human occupations at Isturitz occurred under cold and arid conditions, rapidly becoming even cooler and drier. Limited changes are observed in the human-environment-prey relationship despite this unstable climatic context where significant changes in rainfall, temperature, and a gradual opening of environments and some changes in the faunal assemblage occurred. Our findings suggest that human groups hunted in similar territories and utilized comparable strategies throughout the temporal sequence. Our multiproxy approach, combining complementary analyses, provides a better understanding of the adaptation strategies when the first phases of the Upper Paleolithic were emerging in Western Europe.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 103665"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143776521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Palaeoecology of the Pliocene large carnivore guild at Hadar, Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia","authors":"Joshua R. Robinson ,&nbsp;Ignacio A. Lazagabaster ,&nbsp;John Rowan ,&nbsp;Margaret E. Lewis ,&nbsp;Lars Werdelin ,&nbsp;Christopher J. Campisano ,&nbsp;Kaye E. Reed","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103653","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103653","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Hadar Formation at Hadar (Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia, ∼3.45–2.95 Ma) is one of the most well-known and studied Pliocene hominin-bearing sequences in eastern Africa, yielding numerous fossils of the species <em>Australopithecus afarensis</em>. While much research has been conducted on the palaeoecology of the Hadar Formation broadly, little attention has been placed on the carnivore guild. Here, we present new stable carbon and oxygen isotope data for Hadar carnivores that contribute to the palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the Hadar Formation and facilitate inference of predator-prey relationship between the large carnivore and herbivore guilds at Hadar. Overall, the members of the Hadar carnivore guild had relatively high carbon values (−4.6 ± 1.4‰), with the highest values in the middle part of the sequence (Denen Dora Member, ∼3.2 Ma). These values are higher than the carbon values of carnivores from penecontemporaneous sediments in the Turkana Basin (southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya). Stable oxygen isotope values are variable throughout the Hadar Formation, but reconstruction of estimated meteoric water oxygen values indicates a wetter and more pluvial climate than that at the present. Carbon isotope mixing models weighted by a prey selectivity index based on established predator-prey body size relationships reveals that two large-bodied taxa (<em>Homotherium</em> and <em>Crocuta venustula</em>) had partitioned their dietary niches only to a limited extent. Understanding the nature of the large carnivore guild at Hadar allows us to predict which taxa may have been competitors or predators of <em>Au. afarensis</em>, offering insights into the palaeoecological context beyond what can be inferred from palaeoenvironmental reconstructions alone. Moreover, our analyses provide a valuable insight into the little-known isotopic ecology of fossil African carnivores.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 103653"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143747001","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":"JHE: The case for preserving a legacy journal and its community","authors":"Radu Iovita ,&nbsp;Nohemi Sala ,&nbsp;Song Xing","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103677","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103677","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"201 ","pages":"Article 103677"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143635002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Human midfacial growth pattern differs from that of Neanderthals and chimpanzees","authors":"Alexandra Schuh ,&nbsp;Philipp Gunz ,&nbsp;Chiara Villa ,&nbsp;Bruno Maureille ,&nbsp;Michel Toussaint ,&nbsp;Grégory Abrams ,&nbsp;Jean-Jacques Hublin ,&nbsp;Sarah E. Freidline","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103667","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103667","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Present-day humans have small and retracted midfaces, while Neanderthals possess large and forwardly projected midfaces. To understand the ontogenetic patterns underlying these characteristic morphologies, we compared maxillary growth and development from birth to adulthood in present-day humans (<em>Homo sapiens</em>; <em>n</em> = 128), Neanderthals (<em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>; <em>n</em> = 13), and chimpanzees (<em>Pan troglodytes verus</em>; <em>n</em> = 33) using macroscopic (i.e., geometric morphometrics) and microscopic (i.e., surface histology) approaches. Using geometric morphometrics to quantify macroscopic patterns of growth and development, we found that the midfaces of present-day humans are on average already smaller at birth than those of Neanderthals and grow more slowly after birth. In particular, we find an early cessation of growth around adolescence, which is unique to our species. Microscopically, this is reflected in reduced amounts of bone resorption, indicative of decreased cellular activities linked to bone development. Greater amounts of bone formation in the infraorbital and nasal regions and faster growth rates are responsible for the large Neanderthal midface. These results highlight the importance of postnatal ontogeny (especially in late stages) for explaining facial differences between Neanderthals and present-day humans, as well as part of the gracilization process characteristic of present-day humans.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 103667"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143682672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Marine Isotope Stage 5 (∼105 ka) lithic assemblage from Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter and insights into social transmission across the Kalahari Basin and its environs","authors":"Precious Chiwara-Maenzanise ,&nbsp;Benjamin J. Schoville ,&nbsp;Yonatan Sahle ,&nbsp;Jayne Wilkins","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103654","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103654","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The social transmission of cultural information is widely acknowledged as a key factor in the survival of our species. This paper explores lithic technological systems to assess the presence and extent of cultural information transmission between early human groups in the Kalahari Basin and its environs during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 (∼130–74 ka). This period is crucial for understanding the development and expansion of complex behaviors in Africa. Dated to ∼105 ka, the dark brown silt and roofspall lithic assemblage at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter in the southern Kalahari provides evidence of early human behavior from South Africa's interior. Technological analyses reveal that lithic reduction at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter focused on producing flakes, convergent pieces, and blades, primarily using the recurrent Levallois method. Comparisons with contemporaneous MIS 5 assemblages in the Kalahari and surrounding regions, such as Erfkroon, Florisbad, and White Paintings Rockshelter, reveal significant technological similarities. These include the use of local raw materials, recurrent Levallois methods, hard hammer percussion technique, core maintenance through débordants, manufacturing of blanks with comparable shapes and sizes, mostly with faceted platforms, and a low frequency of formal tools. These similarities suggest a shared technological tradition and potential cultural exchange among the groups at these sites. This connectivity may reflect their shared adaptation to the predominantly arid and semi-arid conditions of the Kalahari Basin and its environs, which may have necessitated the formation of social ties to access scarce and potentially unpredictable resources, in contrast to the fragmentation observed in some other regions during interglacial periods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 103654"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143682673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ulnar morphology of Pliobates cataloniae (Pliopithecoidea: Crouzeliidae): Insights into catarrhine locomotor diversity and forelimb evolution","authors":"Georgina Raventós-Izard ,&nbsp;Oriol Monclús-Gonzalo ,&nbsp;Salvador Moyà-Solà ,&nbsp;David M. Alba ,&nbsp;Julia Arias-Martorell","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103663","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103663","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Pliobates cataloniae</em> is a small-bodied crouzeliid pliopithecoid from the Miocene (∼11.6 Ma) of Abocador de Can Mata (ACM; Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula). It exhibits a mosaic of primitive (stem catarrhine) and derived (modern hominoid-like) postcranial features. The holotype partial skeleton, from locality ACM/C8-A4, includes an almost complete ulna—a bone that plays a critical role in forearm flexion-extension and pronation-supination. Here, we use landmark-based three-dimensional geometric morphometrics to evaluate the closest morphometric affinities of the <em>Pliobates</em> ulna and explore its implications for the locomotor repertoire of this taxon. The comparative sample includes 156 specimens corresponding to 35 species from 20 anthropoid genera, three lorisid genera, and 10 fossil catarrhines. Our results indicate that the trochlear notch morphology of <em>Pliobates</em> resembles that of stem catarrhines and other nonhominoid primates. However, <em>Pliobates</em> differs from cercopithecoids (especially terrestrial taxa) in radial notch features related to enhanced pronation-supination capabilities, closely resembling the condition displayed by crown hominoids, <em>Ateles</em>, and <em>Loris</em>. In turn, the distal ulna of <em>Pliobates</em> does not overlap with any extant group and differs from the other fossils analyzed, most closely resembling that of hylobatids and lorisids. <em>Pliobates</em> probably had an extensive range of movement in the distal forearm, as indicated by the incipiently expanded semilunar ulnar head, the relatively short styloid process, the deep fovea, and the hooklike styloid process. This suggests that <em>Pliobates</em> would have frequently displayed nonstereotypical limb postures and slow locomotor behaviors. Overall, the ulnar morphology of <em>Pliobates</em> suggests that its locomotor repertoire may have combined cautious above-branch quadrupedalism and eclectic climbing with nonagile suspensory behaviors resembling those of <em>Ateles</em>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 103663"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143637521","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 fresh look at an iconic human fossil: Virtual reconstruction of the KNM-WT 15000 cranium","authors":"Karen L. Baab","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103664","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103664","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 103664"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143637520","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}