Regional variation in the postcranial robusticity of late Upper Paleolithic humans

Early modern humans from the European Upper Paleolithic (UP) demonstrate trends in postcranial biomechanical features that coincide with the last glacial maximum (LGM). These features have been interpreted as evidence that ecological changes of the LGM played a critical role in cultural and biological adaptation in European UP populations. In areas outside of Europe, similar environmental changes occurred with the LGM. This analysis introduces postcranial material from the Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP) of North Africa and Southeast Asia and tests two related hypotheses: 1) LUP samples across the Old World had similar patterns of postcranial robusticity and 2) relative to an available Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) sample, regional LUP samples demonstrate similar trends in robusticity that may be attributable to climatic effects of the LGM. Cross-sectional geometric data of the humeri and femora were obtained for 26 EUP and 100 LUP humans from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Despite regional differences, LUP samples are similar relative to the EUP sample. In the humerus, bilateral asymmetry decreases in all LUP samples relative to the EUP sample. In the femur, LUP samples demonstrate increasingly circular femoral midshaft sections, reflecting reduced anteroposterior bending strength relative to the EUP sample. These patterns suggest changes in subsistence behavior and mobility after the LGM across the Old World that are most consistent with reduced mobility and broad-spectrum resource exploitation.     

Body Size, Weapon Use, and Natural Selection in the European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic

Evidence for a relationship between hunting strategies and body size is examined for human skeletons dating to the European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Trends for reduced limb size and stature seem to be correlated with improvements in the types of weapons utilized and a shift from aggressive to more docile game. Although some of these observations fit the predictions of Brues concerning the spearman-archer model, it is suggested that selection for reduced metabolic demands is a more plausible explanation for decrease in body size from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic . [Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, hunting, body size]     

欧洲旧石器时代晚期石器类型学评介及类型学相关问题探讨

类型学是考古材料描述与分析的基础。近年来,学者们对类型学尤其是旧石器时代石器类型学的反思较多,涉及类型学的理论基础、分类原则、类型学的考古解释能力等各个方面,然而少有中国学者系统介绍西方常用的旧石器考古类型学体系。鉴于此,本文主要介绍D. de Sonneville-Bordes与J. Perrot建立且在欧洲、西亚及北非应用较为普遍的旧石器时代晚期石器类型学,并思考旧石器考古学中类型学应用的相关问题。由于文化的区域多样性,描述中国的旧石器考古学材料时显然不能照搬欧洲的类型学体系,但可参考它并建立适宜于中国旧石器时代考古材料描述的体系。若此,一方面,我们可以更好地将中国的旧石器晚期考古材料与其他地区的相关材料进行对比;另一方面,可以揭示中国旧石器时代晚期石器类型的区域多样化。     

Brachial and crural indices of European late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic humans

Among recent humans brachial and crural indices are positively correlated with mean annual temperature, such that high indices are found in tropical groups. However, despite inhabiting glacial Europe, the Upper Paleolithic Europeans possessed high indices, prompting Trinkaus (1981) to argue for gene flow from warmer regions associated with modern human emergence in Europe. In contrast, Frayer et al. (1993) point out that Late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic Europeans should not exhibit tropically-adapted limb proportions, since, even assuming replacement, their ancestors had experienced cold stress in glacial Europe for at least 12 millennia. This study investigates three questions tied to the brachial and crural indices among Late Pleistocene and recent humans. First, which limb segments (either proximal or distal) are primarily responsible for variation in brachial and crural indices? Second, are these indices reflective of overall limb elongation? And finally, do the Late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic Europeans retain relatively and/or absolutely long limbs? Results indicate that in the lower limb, the distal limb segment contributes most of the variability to intralimb proportions, while in the upper limb the proximal and distal limb segments appear to be equally variable. Additionally, brachial and crural indices do not appear to be a good measure of overall limb length, and thus, while the Late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic humans have significantly higher (i.e., tropically-adapted) brachial and crural indices than do recent Europeans, they also have shorter (i.e., cold-adapted) limbs. The somewhat paradoxical retention of "tropical" indices in the context of more "cold-adapted" limb length is best explained as evidence for Replacement in the European Late Pleistocene, followed by gradual cold adaptation in glacial Europe.     

Body size and body shape in early hominins - implications of the Gona Pelvis

Discovery of the first complete Early Pleistocene hominin pelvis, Gona BSN49/P27, attributed to Homo erectus, raises a number of issues regarding early hominin body size and shape variation. Here, acetabular breadth, femoral head breadth, and body mass calculated from femoral head breadth are compared in 37 early hominin (6.0-0.26 Ma) specimens, including BSN49/P27. Acetabular and estimated femoral head sizes in the Gona specimen fall close to the means for non-Homo specimens (Orrorin tugenesis, Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus), and well below the ranges of all previously described Early and Middle Pleistocene Homo specimens. The Gona specimen has an estimated body mass of 33.2 kg, close to the mean for the non-Homo sample (34.1 kg, range 24-51.5 kg, n = 19) and far outside the range for any previously known Homo specimen (mean = 70.5 kg; range 52-82 kg, n = 17). Inclusion of the Gona specimen within H. erectus increases inferred sexual dimorphism in body mass in this taxon to a level greater than that observed here for any other hominin taxon, and increases variation in body mass within H. erectus females to a level much greater than that observed for any living primate species. This raises questions regarding the taxonomic attribution of the Gona specimen. When considered within the context of overall variation in body breadth among early hominins, the mediolaterally very wide Gona pelvis fits within the distribution of other lower latitude Early and Middle Pleistocene specimens, and below that of higher latitude specimens. Thus, ecogeographic variation in body breadth was present among earlier hominins as it is in living humans. The increased M-L pelvic breadth in all earlier hominins relative to modern humans is related to an increase in ellipticity of the birth canal, possibly as a result of a non-rotational birth mechanism that was common to both australopithecines and archaic Homo.     

Early Upper Paleolithic Man and Late Middle Paleolithic Tools

The appearance of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Europe, the Near East, and Africa must represent either an in situ evolution of Neandertals or a migration. Those who suggest the latter claim a sudden replacement of Neandertals by anatomically modern Homo sapiens. However, the "evidence" actually cited claims only the sudden replacement of Middle by Upper Paleolithic industries. We criticize the migration explanation on two grounds. (1) There is no "sudden replacement" of Middle Paleolithic by Upper Paleolithic industries, but rather a gradual change in the frequencies of already present tools. Numerous sites in these areas exhibit transitional industries. (2) Concomitantly, there is no morphological evidence indicating a "sudden replacement" of hominids. There is no absolute association between anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Upper Paleolithic industries. Instead, the evidence clearly shows that early anatomically modern Homo sapiens is a late Middle Paleolithic local phenomenon .     

Body size and host range in European Heteroptera

We used data on body size and host range of phytophagous Heteroptera in central Europe, an inverse measure of specialisation, to analyse the relationship of body size vs specialisation: 1) we found a clear positive relationship between body size and host range using species as independent data points. 2) However, a nested analysis of variance shows that most of the variance in body size occurred at higher taxonomic levels whereas most of the variance in host specialisation occurred between species. This suggests different phylogenetic inertia of body size and specialisation. Nevertheless, using means of different higher taxonomic levels there is still a significant positive correlation between body size and host range. 3) With more sophisticated methods of correcting for the phylogenetic relatedness between species, the positive correlation between body size and host range still holds, despite the different assumptions of each method. Thus, the relationship between body size and host range is a very robust pattern in true bugs.     

Activity, climate, and postcranial robusticity: implications for modern human origins and scenarios of adaptive change

Postcranial robusticity--the massiveness of the skeleton--figures prominently in the debate over the origin of modern humans. Anthropologists use postcranial robusticity to infer the activity levels of prehistoric populations, and changes in robusticity are often used to support scenarios of adaptive change. These scenarios explain differences in morphology as the result of a change in lifestyle (habitual activity). One common scenario posits that early modern humans were more gracile than Neandertals because the modern humans' complex culture required less physical exertion. However, lifestyle is only one of many influences on morphology. Climate has clear correlations with physique and skeletal proportions. Analysis of recent humans that differ in terms of lifestyle and climatic adaptations reveals that limb bone robusticity varies with climate as much as or more than with lifestyle. Many of the differences in robusticity between Neandertals and early modern humans appear to be related to climatic adaptations. The results support the single-recent origin model of modern human origins. The differences in robusticity between Neandertals and early modern humans suggest that population replacement rather than local evolution best explains the emergence of modern humans in Europe. Both climatic adaptations (primarily body proportions) and lifestyle should be considered in analyses of robusticity.     

Hunter-gatherer postcranial robusticity relative to patterns of mobility, climatic adaptation, and selection for tissue economy

Human skeletal robusticity is influenced by a number of factors, including habitual behavior, climate, and physique. Conflicting evidence as to the relative importance of these factors complicates our ability to interpret variation in robusticity in the past. It remains unclear how the pattern of robusticity in the skeleton relates to adaptive constraints on skeletal morphology. This study investigates variation in robusticity in claviculae, humeri, ulnae, femora, and tibiae among human foragers, relative to climate and habitual behavior. Cross-sectional geometric properties of the diaphyses are compared among hunter-gatherers from southern Africa (n = 83), the Andaman Islands (n = 32), Tierra del Fuego (n = 34), and the Great Lakes region (n = 15). The robusticity of both proximal and distal limb segments correlates negatively with climate and positively with patterns of terrestrial and marine mobility among these groups. However, the relative correspondence between robusticity and these factors varies throughout the body. In the lower limb, partial correlations between polar second moment of area (J(0.73)) and climate decrease from proximal to distal section locations, while this relationship increases from proximal to distal in the upper limb. Patterns of correlation between robusticity and mobility, either terrestrial or marine, generally increase from proximal to distal in the lower and upper limbs, respectively. This suggests that there may be a stronger relationship between observed patterns of diaphyseal hypertrophy and behavioral differences between populations in distal elements. Despite this trend, strength circularity indices at the femoral midshaft show the strongest correspondence with terrestrial mobility, particularly among males.     

Scaling of postcranial joint size in hominoid primates

The scaling of sixteen articular dimensions in the locomotor skeleton of hominoid primates is examined with special reference to a recently proposed model of geometric similarity. Seven species are included in the analysis (gorillas, common chimpanzees, bonobos, orang-utans, siamang, lar gibbons, and modern humans of European descent); all specimens are adult individuals of known body mass (N=87). No significant sexual dimorphism in the scaling of joint size was observed. Overal results are compatible with the biomechanical model predictions of isometry, and lend additional support to the suggestion that joint stresses are of the same order of magnitude in animals differing vastly in body size and locomotor adaptations. The hindlimb and lumbosacral joints of humans, however, are consistently much larger than expected for their body mass. Full-time bipedality obviously precludes the sharing of weight support and propulsion with the forelimbs, and this fundamental difference is accurately reflected in the relative joint size of humans.     

Body size and physique among Canadians of First Nation and European ancestry

The purpose of this study was to compare body size and physique among Canadians of Aboriginal (First Nation [FN]) and European ancestry (EA) from the northern Ontario communities of Temagami and Bear Island. The sample consisted of 130 FN and 494 EA participants including adults (20–75 years: 214 men, 234 women) and youth (5–19 years: 97 boys, 79 girls). Indicators of body size and physique included stature, the sitting height–to-stature ratio (SSR), body mass, BMI, estimated upper-arm muscle area, biacromial, bicristal, biepicondylar, and bicondylar breadths, and the Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotype (endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy). There were few differences in body size between FN and EA, with the exception of adult females. Adult FN females were significantly heavier and had greater bone breadths than EA women (P < 0.001). On the other hand, somatotype differed significantly between EA and FN by age and sex, except for 5–19-year-old females. Among boys and men, FN had greater endomorphy (P < 0.03), whereas FN men also had lower ectomorphy (P < 0.01). Among women, FN were significantly more endomorphic and mesomorphic and less ectomorphic (P < 0.001). Although results for 5–19-year-old females were not significant, they were in the same direction as the other groups (greater endomorphy). Forward stepwise discriminant function analyses indicated that endomorphy was the most important discriminator between FN and EA by age and sex. Am J Phys Anthropol 108:161–172, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

德国旧石器时代晚期骨角器研究及启示

骨角器在旧石器时代晚期欧亚大陆普遍出现,主要包括工具、穿孔装饰品和雕刻艺术品.这类物品通过比较固定而复杂的技术,仔细且精致地加工而成,具有较规范统一的形状,并且具有一系列新的或独特的功能,其原材料、类型、数量及与其他文化遗物的组合在时间和地理分布上呈现多样性.本文主要介绍德国旧石器时代晚期的骨角器及相关研究,透过原材料——动物资源的开发利用、开料或取坯技术、整形加工方法,展示中、西欧旧石器时代晚期骨角器工业和人类行为特点.同时,本文指出未来结合遗址中动物遗存分析以及实验和微痕观察的方法,对我国及东亚地区骨角器工业进行系统的研究,从而更好地认识区域环境中人类行为和文化发展的特点.     

Body size clines in the European badger and the abundant centre hypothesis

Aim To test the abundant centre hypothesis by analysing the physical and climatic factors that influence body size variation in the European badger (Meles meles). Location Data were compiled from 35 locations across Europe. Methods We used body mass, body length and condylo‐basal length (CBL) as surrogates of size. We also compiled data on latitude, several climatic variables, habitat type and site position relative to the range edge. We collapsed all continuous climatic variables into independent vectors using principal components analysis (PCA), and used a general linear model to explain the morphometric variation in badger populations across the species’ range. Results Body mass and body length were nonlinearly and significantly related to latitude. In contrast, CBL was linearly related to latitude. Body mass changed nonlinearly along the temperature (PC1) gradient, with the highest values observed at mid‐range. Furthermore, body mass, body length and CBL differed significantly among habitats, with badgers showing larger size in temperate habitats and core areas relative to peripheral zones. Main conclusions Our analysis supports the nonlinear pattern predicted by the abundant centre hypothesis only for body mass and body length. These results imply that individuals are largest and heaviest at the centre of the climatic range of badger distribution. Variation of CBL with latitude follows a linear trend, consistent with Bergmann’s rule. Our results provide mixed support for the abundant centre hypothesis, and suggest food availability/quality to be the main mechanism underlying body size clines in this species.     

Additional postcranial elements of Teilhardina belgica: The oldest European primate

Teilhardina belgica is one of the earliest fossil primates ever recovered and the oldest fossil primate from Europe. As such, this taxon has often been hypothesized as a basal tarsiiform on the basis of its primitive dental formula with four premolars and a simplified molar cusp pattern. Until recently [see Rose et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 146 (2011) 281–305; Gebo et al.: J Hum Evol 63 (2012) 205–218], little was known concerning its postcranial anatomy with the exception of its well‐known tarsals. In this article, we describe additional postcranial elements for T. belgica and compare these with other tarsiiforms and with primitive adapiforms. The forelimb of T. belgica indicates an arboreal primate with prominent forearm musculature, good elbow rotational mobility, and a horizontal, rather than a vertical body posture. The lateral hand positions imply grasps adaptive for relatively large diameter supports given its small body size. The hand is long with very long fingers, especially the middle phalanges. The hindlimb indicates foot inversion capabilities, frequent leaping, arboreal quadrupedalism, climbing, and grasping. The long and well‐muscled hallux can be coupled with long lateral phalanges to reconstruct a foot with long grasping digits. Our phyletic analysis indicates that we can identify several postcranial characteristics shared in common for stem primates as well as note several derived postcranial characters for Tarsiiformes. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:388–406, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.