Affiliation:
1. Programa de Paleobiología Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana Burgos Spain
2. Department of Anthropology Columbia University New York New York USA
3. Department of Anatomy Midwestern University Glendale Arizona USA
4. Department of Anthropology Southern Connecticut State University New Haven Connecticut USA
5. Programa de Arqueología Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana Burgos Spain
6. Stone Age Institute Gosport Indiana USA
Abstract
AbstractThe nearly complete cranium DAN5/P1 was found at Gona (Afar, Ethiopia), dated to 1.5–1.6 Ma, and assigned to the species Homo erectus. Its size is, nonetheless, particularly small for the known range of variation of this taxon, and the cranial capacity has been estimated as 598 cc. In this study, we analyzed a reconstruction of its endocranial cast, to investigate its paleoneurological features. The main anatomical traits of the endocast were described, and its morphology was compared with other fossil and modern human samples. The endocast shows most of the traits associated with less encephalized human taxa, like narrow frontal lobes and a simple meningeal vascular network with posterior parietal branches. The parietal region is relatively tall and rounded, although not especially large. Based on our set of measures, the general endocranial proportions are within the range of fossils included in the species Homo habilis or in the genus Australopithecus. Similarities with the genus Homo include a more posterior position of the frontal lobe relative to the cranial bones, and the general endocranial length and width when size is taken into account. This new specimen extends the known brain size variability of Homo ergaster/erectus, while suggesting that differences in gross brain proportions among early human species, or even between early humans and australopiths, were absent or subtle.
Funder
National Science Foundation
Getty Foundation
Leakey Foundation
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
National Geographic Society
Subject
Paleontology,Archeology,Genetics,Anthropology,Anatomy,Epidemiology
Cited by
2 articles.
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