Publications

sunlight adaptation region of neanderthal genome found in up to 65% of modern east asian populations.		2014	24458432
neandertal admixture in eurasia confirmed by maximum-likelihood analysis of three genomes.	although there has been much interest in estimating histories of divergence and admixture from genomic data, it has proved difficult to distinguish recent admixture from long-term structure in the ancestral population. thus, recent genome-wide analyses based on summary statistics have sparked controversy about the possibility of interbreeding between neandertals and modern humans in eurasia. here we derive the probability of full mutational configurations in nonrecombining sequence blocks under ...	2014	24532731
on the chronology of the uluzzian.	the uluzzian, one of europe's 'transitional' technocomplexes, has gained particular significance over the past three years when the only human remains associated with it were attributed to modern humans, instead of neanderthals as previously thought. the position of the uluzzian at stratified sequences, always overlying late mousterian layers and underlying early upper palaeolithic ones, highlights its significance in understanding the passage from the middle to upper palaeolithic, as well as th ...	2014	24513033
evidence for a (15)n positive excursion in terrestrial foodwebs at the middle to upper palaeolithic transition in south-western france: implications for early modern human palaeodiet and palaeoenvironment.	the middle to upper palaeolithic transition around 35,000 years ago coincides with the replacement of neanderthals by anatomically modern humans in europe. several hypotheses have been suggested to explain this replacement, one of them being the ability of anatomically modern humans to broaden their dietary spectrum beyond the large ungulate prey that neanderthals consumed exclusively. this scenario is notably based on higher nitrogen-15 amounts in early upper palaeolithic anatomically modern hu ...	2014	24630359
the doubly conditioned frequency spectrum does not distinguish between ancient population structure and hybridization.	distinguishing between hybridization and population structure in the ancestral species is a key challenge in our understanding of how permeable species boundaries are to gene flow. the doubly conditioned frequency spectrum (dcfs) has been argued to be a powerful metric to discriminate between these two explanations, and it was used to argue for hybridization between neandertal and anatomically modern humans. the shape of the observed dcfs for these two species cannot be reproduced by a model tha ...	2014	24627034
[genes tell of the neanderthal role in human evolution].		2014	24432504
in search of our direct ancestor an anthropological and orthodontic summary.	this paper reviews the development of human facial anatomy in h erectus, neanderthal and modern man. modern orthodontic measurements are used to compare different jaw size and relationships.	2014	24620439
evidence supporting an intentional neandertal burial at la chapelle-aux-saints.	the bouffia bonneval at la chapelle-aux-saints is well known for the discovery of the first secure neandertal burial in the early 20th century. however, the intentionality of the burial remains an issue of some debate. here, we present the results of a 12-y fieldwork project, along with a taphonomic analysis of the human remains, designed to assess the funerary context of the la chapelle-aux-saints neandertal. we have established the anthropogenic nature of the burial pit and underlined the taph ...	2014	24344286
a reassessment of the presumed neandertal remains from san bernardino cave, italy.	in 1986-1987, three human remains were unearthed from macro-unit ii of san bernardino cave (berici hills, veneto, italy), a deposit containing a late mousterian lithic assemblage. the human remains (a distal phalanx, a lower right third molar and a lower right second deciduous incisor) do not show diagnostic morphological features that could be used to determine whether they were from homo neanderthalensis or homo sapiens. despite being of small size, and thus more similar to recent h. sapiens, ...	2014	24331083
the complete genome sequence of a neanderthal from the altai mountains.	we present a high-quality genome sequence of a neanderthal woman from siberia. we show that her parents were related at the level of half-siblings and that mating among close relatives was common among her recent ancestors. we also sequenced the genome of a neanderthal from the caucasus to low coverage. an analysis of the relationships and population history of available archaic genomes and 25 present-day human genomes shows that several gene flow events occurred among neanderthals, denisovans a ...	2014	24352235
neanderthal introgression at chromosome 3p21.31 was under positive natural selection in east asians.	studies of the neanderthal and denisovan genomes demonstrate archaic hominin introgression in eurasians. here, we present evidence of neanderthal introgression within the chromosome 3p21.31 region, occurring with a high frequency in east asians (ranging from 49.4% to 66.5%) and at a low frequency in europeans. we also detected a signal of strong positive selection in this region only in east asians. our data indicate that likely candidate targets of selection include rs12488302-t and its associa ...	2014	24336922
searching for signatures of cold adaptations in modern and archaic humans: hints from the brown adipose tissue genes.	adaptation to low temperatures has been reasonably developed in the human species during the colonization of the eurasian landmass subsequent to out of africa migrations of anatomically modern humans. in addition to morphological and cultural changes, also metabolic ones are supposed to have favored human isolation from cold and body heat production and this can be hypothesized also for most neandertal and at least for some denisovan populations, which lived in geographical areas that strongly e ...	2014	24667833
neandertal clavicle length.	the late pleistocene archaic humans from western eurasia (the neandertals) have been described for a century as exhibiting absolutely and relatively long clavicles. this aspect of their body proportions has been used to distinguish them from modern humans, invoked to account for other aspects of their anatomy and genetics, used in assessments of their phylogenetic polarities, and used as evidence for late pleistocene population relationships. however, it has been unclear whether the usual scalin ...	2014	24616525
brief communication: lumbar lordosis in extinct hominins: implications of the pelvic incidence.	recently, interest has peaked regarding the posture of extinct hominins. here, we present a new method of reconstructing lordosis angles of extinct hominin specimens based on pelvic morphology, more specifically the orientation of the sacrum in relation to the acetabulum (pelvic incidence). two regression models based on the correlation between pelvic incidence and lordosis angle in living hominoids have been developed. the mean values of the calculated lordosis angles based on these models are ...	2014	24615397
influence of lower limb configuration on walking cost in late pleistocene humans.	it has been proposed that neandertals had about 30% higher gross cost of transport than anatomically modern humans (amh) and that such difference implies higher daily energy demands and reduced foraging ranges in neandertals. thus, reduced walking economy could be among the factors contributing to the neandertals' loss in competition with their anatomically modern successors. previously, neandertal walking cost had been estimated from just two parameters and based upon a pooled-sex sample. in th ...	2014	24485350
loss of olfactory receptor function in hominin evolution.	the mammalian sense of smell is governed by the largest gene family, which encodes the olfactory receptors (ors). the gain and loss of or genes is typically correlated with adaptations to various ecological niches. modern humans have 853 or genes but 55% of these have lost their function. here we show evidence of additional or loss of function in the neanderthal and denisovan hominin genomes using comparative genomic methodologies. ten neanderthal and 8 denisovan ors show evidence of loss of fun ...	2014	24392153
the human condition-a molecular approach.	research into when and where modern humans originated and how they differ from, and interacted with, other now-extinct forms of human has so far been the realm of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists. however, over the past decade, molecular geneticists have begun to study genomes of extinct humans. here, i discuss where we stand today with respect to understanding how modern humans came to differ from neandertals and other human forms that existed until about 30,000 years ago.	2014	24679537
human evolution. oldest homo sapiens genome pinpoints neandertal input.		2014	24675930
genetic variation of the whole icam4 gene in caucasians and african americans.	landsteiner-wiener (lw) is the human blood group system number 16, which comprises two antithetical antigens, lw(a) and lw(b) and the high-prevalence antigen lw(ab) . lw is encoded by the intracellular adhesion molecule 4 (icam4) gene. the icam4 protein is part of the rhesus complex in the red cell membrane and is involved in cell-cell adhesion.	2014	24673173
human evolution: the neanderthal in the family.		2014	24670743
early pleistocene third metacarpal from kenya and the evolution of modern human-like hand morphology.	despite discoveries of relatively complete hands from two early hominin species (ardipithecus ramidus and australopithecus sediba) and partial hands from another (australopithecus afarensis), fundamental questions remain about the evolution of human-like hand anatomy and function. these questions are driven by the paucity of hand fossils in the hominin fossil record between 800,000 and 1.8 my old, a time interval well documented for the emergence and subsequent proliferation of acheulian technol ...	2014	24344276
epigenetic information from ancient dna provides new insights into human evolution. commentary on gokhman d et al. (2014): reconstructing the dna methylation maps of the neanderthal and the denisovan. science 344:523-527.		2014	25277105
evolution of the auditory ossicles in extant hominids: metric variation in african apes and humans.	the auditory ossicles in primates have proven to be a reliable source of phylogenetic information. nevertheless, to date, very little data have been published on the metric dimensions of the ear ossicles in african apes and humans. the present study relies on the largest samples of african ape ear ossicles studied to date to address questions of taxonomic differences and the evolutionary transformation of the ossicles in gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. both african ape taxa show a malleus that ...	2014	24845949
a rock engraving made by neanderthals in gibraltar.	the production of purposely made painted or engraved designs on cave walls--a means of recording and transmitting symbolic codes in a durable manner--is recognized as a major cognitive step in human evolution. considered exclusive to modern humans, this behavior has been used to argue in favor of significant cognitive differences between our direct ancestors and contemporary archaic hominins, including the neanderthals. here we present the first known example of an abstract pattern engraved by n ...	2014	25197076
temporal labyrinths of eastern eurasian pleistocene humans.	one of the morphological features that has been identified as uniquely derived for the western eurasian neandertals concerns the relative sizes and positions of their semicircular canals. in particular, they exhibit a relatively small anterior canal, a relatively larger lateral one, and a more inferior position of the posterior one relative to the lateral one. these discussions have not included full paleontological data on eastern eurasian pleistocene human temporal labyrinths, which have the p ...	2014	25002467
primate evolution of the recombination regulator prdm9.	the prdm9 gene encodes a protein with a highly variable tandem-repeat zinc finger (zf) dna-binding domain that plays a key role in determining sequence-specific hotspots of meiotic recombination genome wide. here we survey the diversity of the prdm9 zf domain by sequencing this region in 64 primates from 18 species, revealing 68 unique alleles across all groups. we report ubiquitous positive selection at nucleotide positions corresponding to dna contact residues and the expansion of zfs within c ...	2014	25001002
the neanderthal meal: a new perspective using faecal biomarkers.	neanderthal dietary reconstructions have, to date, been based on indirect evidence and may underestimate the significance of plants as a food source. while zooarchaeological and stable isotope data have conveyed an image of neanderthals as largely carnivorous, studies on dental calculus and scattered palaeobotanical evidence suggest some degree of contribution of plants to their diet. however, both views remain plausible and there is no categorical indication of an omnivorous diet. here we prese ...	2014	24963925
absolute and relative endocranial size in neandertals and later pleistocene homo.	eurasian neandertals encompass the entire observed range of recent and fossil homo sapiens in absolute, but not relative endocranial volume, and neandertals attest an average eq significantly lower than their upper pleistocene successors. while the cognitive, social, and evolutionary implications of this phenomenon have been emphasised, the statistical basis of a mean inference of eq in the neandertal hypodigm has not been appropriately demonstrated. a demonstrable male bias in the available pos ...	2014	24954798
preserving immune diversity through ancient inheritance and admixture.	the progress of genomic technologies is allowing researchers to scan the genomes of different species for the occurrence of natural selection at an unprecedented level of resolution. these studies show that genes involved in immune processes are preferential targets of different forms of selection, some of which act to preserve immune diversity over time. recent work in humans shows that this can be achieved either by inheriting advantageous immune variation from distant ancestral species, throu ...	2014	25190608
a test for ancient selective sweeps and an application to candidate sites in modern humans.	we introduce a new method to detect ancient selective sweeps centered on a candidate site. we explored different patterns produced by sweeps around a fixed beneficial mutation, and found that a particularly informative statistic measures the consistency between majority haplotypes near the mutation and genotypic data from a closely related population. we incorporated this statistic into an approximate bayesian computation (abc) method that tests for sweeps at a candidate site. we applied this me ...	2014	25172957
further evidence for phenotypic signatures of hybridization in descendant baboon populations.	hybridization may have played a substantial role in shaping the diversity of our evolving lineage. although recent genomic evidence has shown that hybridization occurred between anatomically modern humans (amhs) and neanderthals, it remains difficult to pin down precisely where and when this gene flow took place. investigations of the hybrid phenotype in primates and other mammals are providing models for identifying signatures of hybridization in the fossil record. however, our understanding of ...	2014	24935168
diagnosing homo sapiens in the fossil record.	diagnosing homo sapiens is a critical question in the study of human evolution. although what constitutes living members of our own species is straightforward, in the fossil record this is still a matter of much debate. the issue is complicated by questions of species diagnoses and ideas about the mode by which a new species is born, by the arguments surrounding the behavioural and cognitive separateness of the species, by the increasing appreciation of variation in the early african h. sapiens ...	2014	24932746
neanderthal infant and adult infracranial remains from marillac (charente, france).	at the site of marillac, near the ligonne river in marillac-le-franc (charente, france), a remarkable stratigraphic sequence has yielded a wealth of archaeological information, palaeoenvironmental data, as well as faunal and human remains. marillac must have been a sinkhole used by neanderthal groups as a hunting camp during mis 4 (tl date 57,600 ± 4,600bp), where quina mousterian lithics and fragmented bones of reindeer predominate. this article describes three infracranial skeleton fragments. ...	2014	24919796
the timing and spatiotemporal patterning of neanderthal disappearance.	the timing of neanderthal disappearance and the extent to which they overlapped with the earliest incoming anatomically modern humans (amhs) in eurasia are key questions in palaeoanthropology. determining the spatiotemporal relationship between the two populations is crucial if we are to understand the processes, timing and reasons leading to the disappearance of neanderthals and the likelihood of cultural and genetic exchange. serious technical challenges, however, have hindered reliable dating ...	2014	25143113
palaeoanthropology: the time of the last neanderthals.		2014	25143108
novel denisovan and neanderthal retroviruses.	following the recent availability of high-coverage genomes for denisovan and neanderthal hominids, we conducted a screen for endogenized retroviruses, identifying six novel, previously unreported herv-k(hml2) elements (herv-k is human endogenous retrovirus k). these elements are absent from the human genome (hg38) and appear to be unique to archaic hominids. these findings provide further evidence supporting the recent activity of the herv-k(hml2) group, which has been implicated in human diseas ...	2014	25142605
neanderthal origin of the haplotypes carrying the functional variant val92met in the mc1r in modern humans.	skin color is one of the most visible and important phenotypes of modern humans. melanocyte-stimulating hormone and its receptor played an important role in regulating skin color. in this article, we present evidence of neanderthal introgression encompassing the melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor gene mc1r. the haplotypes from neanderthal introgression diverged with the altai neanderthal 103.3 ka, which postdates the anatomically modern human-neanderthal divergence. we further discovered th ...	2014	24916031
selective enrichment of damaged dna molecules for ancient genome sequencing.	contamination by present-day human and microbial dna is one of the major hindrances for large-scale genomic studies using ancient biological material. we describe a new molecular method, u selection, which exploits one of the most distinctive features of ancient dna--the presence of deoxyuracils--for selective enrichment of endogenous dna against a complex background of contamination during dna library preparation. by applying the method to neanderthal dna extracts that are heavily contaminated ...	2014	25081630
iwo eleru's place among late pleistocene and early holocene populations of north and east africa.	the iwo eleru site in nigeria preserves the only terminal pleistocene fossil from tropical west africa. the peoples of this region contributed to significant population movements throughout the continent during the holocene. as such, characterizing the phenotype of late pleistocene west african populations is critical for disentangling the evolutionary signatures of a highly complex african population history and structure. previous research approached the calvaria's morphology from a paleoanthr ...	2014	25065342
the late early pleistocene human dental remains from uadi aalad and mulhuli-amo (buia), eritrean danakil: macromorphology and microstructure.	fieldwork performed during the last 15 years in various early pleistocene east african sites has significantly enlarged the fossil record of homo erectus sensu lato (s.l.). additional evidence comes from the danakil depression of eritrea, where over 200 late early to early middle pleistocene sites have been identified within a ∼1000 m-thick sedimentary succession outcropping in the dandiero rift basin, near buia. along with an adult cranium (ua 31), which displays a blend of h. erectus-like and ...	2014	24852385
three-dimensional shape variation of talar surface morphology in hominoid primates.	the hominoid foot is of particular interest to biological anthropologists, as changes in its anatomy through time reflect the adoption of terrestrial locomotion, particularly in species of australopithecus and homo. understanding the osteological morphology associated with changes in whole foot function and the development of the plantar medial longitudinal foot arch are key to understanding the transition through habitual bipedalism in australopithecines to obligate bipedalism and long-distance ...	2014	24842795
neanderthals from el salt (alcoy, spain) in the context of the latest middle palaeolithic populations from the southeast of the iberian peninsula.	we present a bioanthropological study of dental remains recovered from el salt middle palaeolithic site (alcoy, alicante, spain). the dental remains were found in a sedimentary layer representing a calm depositional environment within a freshwater spring system. the corresponding archaeological context comprises a middle palaeolithic faunal and lithic assemblage that represents the last documented evidence of human occupation at the site, dating to between 47.2 ± 4.4 and 45.2 ± 3.4 ka (thousands ...	2014	25063566
symbolic or utilitarian? juggling interpretations of neanderthal behavior: new inferences from the study of engraved stone surfaces.	different categories of finds reveal how neanderthals have manifested at different moments behaviors not ascribable to the utilitarian sphere, but to the aesthetic or symbolic. when the majority of this evidence dates to the few millennia that preceded the spread of anatomically modern humans in europe, these are grounds to continue the debate regarding the emergence of complex behavior, seen as an autonomous phenomenon of neanderthal man or as the result of contact with immigrant populations. r ...	2014	25020018
new evidence of early neanderthal disappearance in the iberian peninsula.	the timing of the end of the middle palaeolithic and the disappearance of neanderthals continue to be strongly debated. current chronometric evidence from different european sites pushes the end of the middle palaeolithic throughout the continent back to around 42 thousand years ago (ka). this has called into question some of the dates from the iberian peninsula, previously considered as one of the last refuge zones of the neanderthals. evidence of neanderthal occupation in iberia after 42 ka is ...	2014	25016565
reconstructing the dna methylation maps of the neandertal and the denisovan.	ancient dna sequencing has recently provided high-coverage archaic human genomes. however, the evolution of epigenetic regulation along the human lineage remains largely unexplored. we reconstructed the full dna methylation maps of the neandertal and the denisovan by harnessing the natural degradation processes of methylated and unmethylated cytosines. comparing these ancient methylation maps to those of present-day humans, we identified ~2000 differentially methylated regions (dmrs). particular ...	2014	24786081
the shape of the human language-ready brain.	our core hypothesis is that the emergence of our species-specific language-ready brain ought to be understood in light of the developmental changes expressed at the levels of brain morphology and neural connectivity that occurred in our species after the split from neanderthals-denisovans and that gave us a more globular braincase configuration. in addition to changes at the cortical level, we hypothesize that the anatomical shift that led to globularity also entailed significant changes at the ...	2014	24772099
reconstructing cultural behavior from dental wear studies: is para-facets analysis approach scientifically valid?	it is common knowledge, that in archaic populations teeth were used as tools, this behavior can be studied by evaluating attrition patterns. parafacets were defined as nonmasticatory wear areas that have no antagonist matching wear facets. the presence of the parafacets led to far-reaching conclusions regarding cultural interactions between near eastern neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. this study was aimed to examine the identification of parafacets in some of the qafzeh specimens. b ...	2014	24767822
a 400,000-year-old mitochondrial genome questions phylogenetic relationships amongst archaic hominins: using the latest advances in ancient genomics, the mitochondrial genome sequence of a 400,000-year-old hominin has been deciphered.	by combining state-of-the-art approaches in ancient genomics, meyer and co-workers have reconstructed the mitochondrial sequence of an archaic hominin that lived at sierra de atapuerca, spain about 400,000 years ago. this achievement follows recent advances in molecular anthropology that delivered the genome sequence of younger archaic hominins, such as neanderthals and denisovans. molecular phylogenetic reconstructions placed the atapuercan as a sister group to denisovans, although its morpholo ...	2014	24706482
non-neanderthal origin of the hla-dpb1*0401.		2014	24706180
the ontogeny of nasal floor shape variation in extant humans.	variation in nasal floor topography has generated both neontological and paleontological interest. three categories of nasal floor shape (franciscus: j hum evol 44 (2003) 699-727) have been used when analyzing this trait in extant humans and fossil homo: flat, sloped, and depressed (or "bi-level"). variation in the frequency of these configurations within and among extant and fossil humans has been well-documented (franciscus: j hum evol 44 (2003) 699-727; wu et al.: anthropol sci 120 (2012) 217 ...	2014	25043897
exploring the impact of climate variability during the last glacial maximum on the pattern of human occupation of iberia.	the last glacial maximum (lgm) was a global climate event, which had significant repercussions for the spatial distribution and demographic history of prehistoric populations. in eurasia, the lgm coincides with a potential bottleneck for modern humans and may mark the divergence date for asian and european populations (keinan et al., 2007). in this research, the impact of climate variability on human populations in the iberian peninsula during the last glacial maximum (lgm) is examined with the ...	2014	25034085
extended mind and visuo-spatial integration: three hands for the neandertal lineage.		2014	25020020
detecting human presence at the border of the northeastern italian pre-alps. 14c dating at rio secco cave as expression of the first gravettian and the late mousterian in the northern adriatic region.	in the northern adriatic regions, which include the venetian region and the dalmatian coast, late neanderthal settlements are recorded in few sites and even more ephemeral are remains of the mid-upper palaeolithic occupations. a contribution to reconstruct the human presence during this time range has been produced from a recently investigated cave, rio secco, located in the northern adriatic region at the foot of the carnic pre-alps. chronometric data make rio secco a key site in the context of ...	2014	24759802
patterns of coding variation in the complete exomes of three neandertals.	we present the dna sequence of 17,367 protein-coding genes in two neandertals from spain and croatia and analyze them together with the genome sequence recently determined from a neandertal from southern siberia. comparisons with present-day humans from africa, europe, and asia reveal that genetic diversity among neandertals was remarkably low, and that they carried a higher proportion of amino acid-changing (nonsynonymous) alleles inferred to alter protein structure or function than present-day ...	2014	24753607
plant foods and the dietary ecology of neanderthals and early modern humans.	one of the most important challenges in anthropology is understanding the disappearance of neanderthals. previous research suggests that neanderthals had a narrower diet than early modern humans, in part because they lacked various social and technological advances that lead to greater dietary variety, such as a sexual division of labor and the use of complex projectile weapons. the wider diet of early modern humans would have provided more calories and nutrients, increasing fertility, decreasin ...	2014	24612646
brief communication: investigation of the semicircular canal variation in the krapina neandertals.	previous studies comparing bony labyrinth morphology in geographically-dispersed samples of neandertals and modern homo sapiens (h. sapiens) showed that neandertals generally have smaller semicircular canals than modern h. sapiens (hublin et al., ; spoor et al., ; glantz et al., ). here we analyze the morphology of a single group of neandertal specimens from one locale, the krapina site, to determine the intraspecific variation in neandertal semicircular canal sizes. dimensions of the semicircul ...	2014	24610299
taxonomic differences in deciduous upper second molar crown outlines of homo sapiens, homo neanderthalensis and homo erectus.	a significant number of middle to late pleistocene sites contain primarily (and sometimes only) deciduous teeth (e.g., grotta del cavallo, mezmaiskaya, blombos). not surprisingly, there has been a recent renewed interest in deciduous dental variation, especially in the context of distinguishing homo neanderthalensis and homo sapiens. most studies of the deciduous dentition of fossil hominins have focused on standard metrical variation but morphological (non-metric and morphometric) variation als ...	2014	24703186
neanderthal ancestry drives evolution of lipid catabolism in contemporary europeans.	although neanderthals are extinct, fragments of their genomes persist in contemporary humans. here we show that while the genome-wide frequency of neanderthal-like sites is approximately constant across all contemporary out-of-africa populations, genes involved in lipid catabolism contain more than threefold excess of such sites in contemporary humans of european descent. evolutionally, these genes show significant association with signatures of recent positive selection in the contemporary euro ...	2014	24690587
neanderthal paintings? production of prototypical human (homo sapiens) faces shows systematic distortions.	people's sketches of human faces seem to be systematically distorted: the eye position is always higher than in reality. this bias was experimentally analyzed by a series of experiments varying drawing conditions. participants either drew prototypical faces from memory (studies 1 and 2: free reconstruction; study 3: cued reconstruction) or directly copied average faces (study 4). participants consistently showed this positioning bias, which is even in accord with facial depictions published in i ...	2014	24689136
insights into the genetic structure and diversity of 38 south asian indians from deep whole-genome sequencing.	south asia possesses a significant amount of genetic diversity due to considerable intergroup differences in culture and language. there have been numerous reports on the genetic structure of asian indians, although these have mostly relied on genotyping microarrays or targeted sequencing of the mitochondria and y chromosomes. asian indians in singapore are primarily descendants of immigrants from dravidian-language-speaking states in south india, and 38 individuals from the general population u ...	2014	24832686
reply to ding et al.: non-neanderthal origin of the hla-dpb1*0401.		2014	24829968
neandertal demise: an archaeological analysis of the modern human superiority complex.	neandertals are the best-studied of all extinct hominins, with a rich fossil record sampling hundreds of individuals, roughly dating from between 350,000 and 40,000 years ago. their distinct fossil remains have been retrieved from portugal in the west to the altai area in central asia in the east and from below the waters of the north sea in the north to a series of caves in israel in the south. having thrived in eurasia for more than 300,000 years, neandertals vanished from the record around 40 ...	2014	24789039
human evolution. neandertals and moderns made imperfect mates.		2014	24482455
allometry, merism, and tooth shape of the upper deciduous m2 and permanent m1.	the aims of this study were to investigate the effect of allometry on the shape of dm(2) and m(1) crown outlines and to examine whether the trajectory and magnitude of scaling are shared between species. the sample included 160 recent homo sapiens, 28 upper paleolithic h. sapiens, 10 early h. sapiens, and 33 h. neanderthalensis (neandertal) individuals. of these, 97 were dm(2) /m(1) pairs from the same individuals. a two-block partial least squares analysis of paired individuals revealed a signi ...	2014	24482249
sequence variants in slc16a11 are a common risk factor for type 2 diabetes in mexico.	performing genetic studies in multiple human populations can identify disease risk alleles that are common in one population but rare in others, with the potential to illuminate pathophysiology, health disparities, and the population genetic origins of disease alleles. here we analysed 9.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) in each of 8,214 mexicans and other latin americans: 3,848 with type 2 diabetes and 4,366 non-diabetic controls. in addition to replicating previous findings, we ...	2014	24390345
middle pleistocene hominin teeth from longtan cave, hexian, china.	excavations at the longtan cave, hexian, anhui province of eastern china, have yielded several hominin fossils including crania, mandibular fragments, and teeth currently dated to 412 ± 25 ka. while previous studies have focused on the cranial remains, there are no detailed analyses of the dental evidence. in this study, we provide metric and morphological descriptions and comparisons of ten teeth recovered from hexian, including microcomputed tomography analyses. our results indicate that the h ...	2014	25551383
biological noise and h2a.z: a promising connection for language.		2014	25620980
paleogenomics. genomic structure in europeans dating back at least 36,200 years.	the origin of contemporary europeans remains contentious. we obtained a genome sequence from kostenki 14 in european russia dating from 38,700 to 36,200 years ago, one of the oldest fossils of anatomically modern humans from europe. we find that kostenki 14 shares a close ancestry with the 24,000-year-old mal'ta boy from central siberia, european mesolithic hunter-gatherers, some contemporary western siberians, and many europeans, but not eastern asians. additionally, the kostenki 14 genome show ...	2014	25378462
early modern human settlement of europe north of the alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment.	the first settlement of europe by modern humans is thought to have occurred between 50,000 and 40,000 calendar years ago (cal b.p.). in europe, modern human remains of this time period are scarce and often are not associated with archaeology or originate from old excavations with no contextual information. hence, the behavior of the first modern humans in europe is still unknown. aurignacian assemblages--demonstrably made by modern humans--are commonly used as proxies for the presence of fully b ...	2014	25246543
anthropology and the study of menopause: evolutionary, developmental, and comparative perspectives.	this work aims to consider how the discipline of anthropology contributes to the study of menopause through evolutionary, developmental, and comparative perspectives.	2014	25232712
a species' odyssey: evolution of obstetrical mechanics from australopithecus lucy to nowadays.	study of obstetrical mechanics of australopithecus lucy, homo neanderthalensis and homo erectus relative to modern homo sapiens and the catarrhines.	2014	25216347
neanderthals did speak, but foxp2 doesn't prove it.	ackermann et al. treat both genetic and paleoanthropological data too superficially to support their conclusions. the case of foxp2 and neanderthals is a prime example, which i will comment on in some detail; the issues are much more complex than they appear in ackermann et al.	2014	25514948
[mutation process in the protein-coding genes of human mitochondrial genome in context of evolution of the genus].	the human mitochondrial genome, although it has a small size, is characterized by high level of variation, non-uniformly distributed in groups of nucleotide positions that differ in the degree of variability. considering the mutation process in human mtdna relative to the mitochondrial genomes of the genus homo-neandertals, denisova hominin and other primate species, it appears that more than half (56.5%) variable positions in the human mtdna protein-coding genes are characterized by back (rever ...	2014	25509854
the origins and significance of coastal resource use in africa and western eurasia.	the systematic exploitation of marine foods by terrestrial mammals lacking aquatic morphologies is rare. widespread ethnographic and archaeological evidence from many areas of the world shows that modern humans living on coastlines often ratchet up the use of marine foods and develop social and technological characteristics unusual to hunter-gatherers and more consistent with small scale food producing societies. consistent use of marine resources often is associated with reduced mobility, large ...	2014	25498601
using obsidian transfer distances to explore social network maintenance in late pleistocene hunter-gatherers.	social behaviour is notoriously difficult to study archaeologically and it is unclear how large the networks of prehistoric humans were, or how they remained connected. maintaining social cohesion was crucial for early humans because social networks facilitate cooperation and are imperative for survival and reproduction. recent hunter-gatherer social organisation typically comprises a number of nested layers, ranging from the nuclear family through to the ~1500-strong ethnolinguistic tribe. here ...	2014	25214705
neandertal growth: what are the costs?	energetic approaches have been increasingly used to address key issues in neandertal palaeoecology and palaeobiology. previous research has focused exclusively on the energy requirements of adults and highlights the high energy demands of these individuals compared with modern humans. less attention has been paid to the energy requirements of sub-adult neandertals, even though this age group could provide clues for a better understanding of neandertal life history. accordingly, herein, we estima ...	2014	25439708
liat1, an arginyltransferase-binding protein whose evolution among primates involved changes in the numbers of its 10-residue repeats.	the arginyltransferase ate1 is a component of the n-end rule pathway, which recognizes proteins containing n-terminal degradation signals called n-degrons, polyubiquitylates these proteins, and thereby causes their degradation by the proteasome. at least six isoforms of mouse ate1 are produced through alternative splicing of ate1 pre-mrna. we identified a previously uncharacterized mouse protein, termed liat1 (ligand of ate1), that interacts with ate1 but does not appear to be its arginylation s ...	2014	25369936
genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western siberia.	we present the high-quality genome sequence of a ∼45,000-year-old modern human male from siberia. this individual derives from a population that lived before-or simultaneously with-the separation of the populations in western and eastern eurasia and carries a similar amount of neanderthal ancestry as present-day eurasians. however, the genomic segments of neanderthal ancestry are substantially longer than those observed in present-day individuals, indicating that neanderthal gene flow into the a ...	2014	25341783
file compression and expansion of the genetic code by the use of the yin/yang directions to find its sphered cube.	the objective of this article is to demonstrate that the genetic code can be studied and represented in a 3-d sphered cube for bioinformatics and for education by using the graphical help of the ancient "book of changes" or i ching for the comparison, pair by pair, of the three basic characteristics of nucleotides: h-bonds, molecular structure, and their tautomerism.	2014	25340175
middle pleistocene human remains from tourville-la-rivière (normandy, france) and their archaeological context.	despite numerous sites of great antiquity having been excavated since the end of the 19th century, middle pleistocene human fossils are still extremely rare in northwestern europe. apart from the two partial crania from biache-saint-vaast in northern france, all known human fossils from this period have been found from ten sites in either germany or england. here we report the discovery of three long bones from the same left upper limb discovered at the open-air site of tourville-la-rivière in t ...	2014	25295956
ancient humans and the origin of modern humans.	recent advances in sequencing technologies and molecular methods have facilitated the sequencing of dna from ancient human remains which has, in turn, provided unprecedented insight into human history. within the past 4 years the genomes of neandertals and denisovans, as well as the genomes of at least two early modern humans, have been sequenced. these sequences showed that there have been several episodes of admixture between modern and archaic groups; including admixture from neandertals into ...	2014	25286439
enamel thickness variation of deciduous first and second upper molars in modern humans and neanderthals.	enamel thickness and dental tissue proportions have been recognized as effective taxonomic discriminators between neanderthal and modern humans teeth. however, most of the research on this topic focused on permanent teeth, and little information is available for the deciduous dentition. moreover, although worn teeth are more frequently found than unworn teeth, published data for worn teeth are scarce and methods for the assessment of their enamel thickness need to be developed. here, we addresse ...	2014	25282273
the nasal complex of neanderthals: an entry portal to their place in human ancestry.	neanderthals are one of the most intensely studied groups of extinct humans, as aspects of their phylogeny and functional morphology remain controversial. they have long been described as cold adapted but recent analyses of their nasal anatomy suggest that traits formerly considered adaptations may be the result of genetic drift. this study performs quantitative and qualitative analysis of aspects of the nasal complex (nc) in neanderthals and other later pleistocene fossils from europe and afric ...	2014	25156452
anthropology. how to build a neandertal.		2014	24948719
temporal lobe sulcal pattern and the bony impressions in the middle cranial fossa: the case of the el sidrón (spain) neandertal sample.	correspondence between temporal lobe sulcal pattern and bony impressions on the middle cranial fossae (mcf) was analyzed. mcf bone remains (sd-359, sd-315, and sd-1219) from the el sidrón (spain) neandertal site are analyzed in this context. direct comparison of the soft and hard tissues from the same individual was studied by means of: 1) dissection of two human heads; 2) optic (white light) surface scans; 3) computed tomography and magnetic resonance of the same head. the inferior temporal sul ...	2014	24943273
did neanderthals and denisovans have our de novo genes?		2014	24952670
change in raw material selection and subsistence behaviour through time at a middle palaeolithic site in southern france.	we apply a resource selection model to the lithic assemblages from 11 archaeological layers at a middle palaeolithic site in southern france, the bau de l'aubesier. the model calculates how to weight each of 10 variables in order to best match the proportions of raw materials from various potential sources in the lithic assemblages. we then combine the variables into two sets of five each, those related to the characteristics of the raw materials themselves, and those related to the sources and ...	2014	25150897
neandertal roots: cranial and chronological evidence from sima de los huesos.	seventeen middle pleistocene crania from the sima de los huesos site (atapuerca, spain) are analyzed, including seven new specimens. this sample makes it possible to thoroughly characterize a middle pleistocene hominin paleodeme and to address hypotheses about the origin and evolution of the neandertals. using a variety of techniques, the hominin-bearing layer could be reassigned to a period around 430,000 years ago. the sample shows a consistent morphological pattern with derived neandertal fea ...	2014	24948730
the thinking neanderthals: what do we know about neanderthal cognition?	the study of neanderthal cognition is difficult, because of the archaeological invisibility of cognition, and because of the methodological issues that arise both from that invisibility and from their being close to modern humans. nevertheless, fair progress has been made in gathering relevant evidence. there is now good evidence that neanderthals were cognitively sophisticated, displaying many of the cognitive traits that were traditionally regarded as proxies for modern human cognition, notabl ...	2014	26308868
the genomic landscape of neanderthal ancestry in present-day humans.	genomic studies have shown that neanderthals interbred with modern humans, and that non-africans today are the products of this mixture. the antiquity of neanderthal gene flow into modern humans means that genomic regions that derive from neanderthals in any one human today are usually less than a hundred kilobases in size. however, neanderthal haplotypes are also distinctive enough that several studies have been able to detect neanderthal ancestry at specific loci. we systematically infer neand ...	2014	24476815
resurrecting surviving neandertal lineages from modern human genomes.	anatomically modern humans overlapped and mated with neandertals such that non-african humans inherit ~1 to 3% of their genomes from neandertal ancestors. we identified neandertal lineages that persist in the dna of modern humans, in whole-genome sequences from 379 european and 286 east asian individuals, recovering more than 15 gigabases of introgressed sequence that spans ~20% of the neandertal genome (false discovery rate = 5%). analyses of surviving archaic lineages suggest that there were f ...	2014	24476670
separating endogenous ancient dna from modern day contamination in a siberian neandertal.	one of the main impediments for obtaining dna sequences from ancient human skeletons is the presence of contaminating modern human dna molecules in many fossil samples and laboratory reagents. however, dna fragments isolated from ancient specimens show a characteristic dna damage pattern caused by miscoding lesions that differs from present day dna sequences. here, we develop a framework for evaluating the likelihood of a sequence originating from a model with postmortem degradation-summarized i ...	2014	24469802
ontogeny of the maxilla in neanderthals and their ancestors.	neanderthals had large and projecting (prognathic) faces similar to those of their putative ancestors from sima de los huesos (sh) and different from the retracted modern human face. when such differences arose during development and the morphogenetic modifications involved are unknown. we show that maxillary growth remodelling (bone formation and resorption) of the devil's tower (gibraltar 2) and la quina 18 neanderthals and four sh hominins, all sub-adults, show extensive bone deposition, wher ...	2015	26639346
the first attested extraction of ancient dna in legumes (fabaceae).	ancient dna (adna) is any dna extracted from ancient specimens, important for diverse evolutionary researches. the major obstacles in adna studies are mutations, contamination and fragmentation. its studies may be crucial for crop history if integrated with human adna research and historical linguistics, both general and relating to agriculture. legumes (fabaceae) are one of the richest end economically most important plant families, not only from neolithic onwards, since they were used as food ...	2015	26635833
on the evolving biology of language.		2015	26635694
a stochastic model for the interbreeding of two populations continuously sharing the same habitat.	we propose and solve a stochastic mathematical model of general applicability to interbreeding populations which share the same habitat. resources are limited so that the total population size is fixed by environmental factors. interbreeding occurs during all the time of coexistence until one of the two population disappears by a random fluctuation. none of the two populations has a selective advantage. we answer the following questions: how long the two populations coexist and how genetically s ...	2015	26585747
the facial profile in the context of facial aesthetics.	beauty has been an intriguing issue since the evolving of a culture in mankind. even the neanderthals are believed to have applied makeover to enhance facial structures and thus underline beauty. the determinants of beauty and aesthetics have been defined by artists and scientists alike. this article will give an overview of the evolvement of a beauty concept and the significance of the facial profile. it aims at sharpening the senses of the facial plastic surgeon for analyzing the patient's fac ...	2015	26579858
the earliest unequivocally modern humans in southern china.	the hominin record from southern asia for the early late pleistocene epoch is scarce. well-dated and well-preserved fossils older than ∼45,000 years that can be unequivocally attributed to homo sapiens are lacking. here we present evidence from the newly excavated fuyan cave in daoxian (southern china). this site has provided 47 human teeth dated to more than 80,000 years old, and with an inferred maximum age of 120,000 years. the morphological and metric assessment of this sample supports its u ...	2015	26466566
the "globularization hypothesis" of the language-ready brain as a developmental frame for prosodic bootstrapping theories of language acquisition.	in recent research (boeckx and benítez-burraco, 2014a,b) have advanced the hypothesis that our species-specific language-ready brain should be understood as the outcome of developmental changes that occurred in our species after the split from neanderthals-denisovans, which resulted in a more globular braincase configuration in comparison to our closest relatives, who had elongated endocasts. according to these authors, the development of a globular brain is an essential ingredient for the langu ...	2015	26696916
on the local mousterian origin of the châtelperronian: integrating typo-technological, chronostratigraphic and contextual data.	across europe the period 45-40 ka (thousands of years ago) is associated with several technological changes, including the emergence of the châtelperronian technocomplex in france and northern spain. the châtelperronian, stratigraphically located between the mousterian and aurignacian, is characterized by upper palaeolithic features, such as volumetric blade reduction, curved backed blades, end-scrapers, bladelets, bone tools and ornaments. concurrently, repeated, though debated, associations wi ...	2015	26277304