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Cranial capacity in hominid evolution
Authors:R. Stanyon  S. Consigliere  M. A. Morescalchi
Affiliation:(1) Istituto di Antropologia fisica, Università di Genova, Via Balbi 4, 16100 Genova, Italy;(2) Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 17, 10100 Torino, Italy
Abstract:We present an analysis of cranial capacity of 118 hominid crania available from the literature. The crania belong to both the genusAustralopithecus andHomo and provide a clear outline of hominid cranial evolution starting at more than 3 million years ago. Beginning withA. afarensis there is a clear increase in both absolute and relative brain size with every successive time period.H.s. neandertal has an absolutely and relatively smaller brain size (1412cc, E.Q.=5.6) than fossil modernH.s. sapiens (1487cc, E.Q.=5.9). Three evolutionary models of hominid brain evolution were tested: gradualism, punctuated equilibrium, and a mixed model using both gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Both parametric and non-parametric analyses show a clear trend toward increasing brain size withH. erectus and a possible relationship within archaicH. sapiens. An evolutionary stasis in cranial capacity could not be refuted for all other taxa. Consequently, the mixed model appears to more fully explain hominid cranial capacity evolution. However, taxonomic decisions could directly compromise the possibility of testing the evolutionary mechanisms hypothesized to be operating in hominid brain expansion.
Keywords:Brain size  Encephalization Quotient  gradualism  punctuated equilibrium  taxonomy
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