| longstanding dental pathology in neandertals from el sidrón (asturias, spain) with a probable familial basis. | two neandertal specimens from el sidrón, northern spain, show evidence of retained left mandibular deciduous canines. these individuals share the same mitochondrial (mtdna) haplotype, indicating they are maternally related and suggesting a potential heritable basis for these dental anomalies. radiographs and medical ct scans provide evidence of further, more extensive dental pathology in one of these specimens. an anomalous deciduous canine crown morphology that developed before birth subsequent ... | 2013 | 23615378 |
| balancing selection on a regulatory region exhibiting ancient variation that predates human-neandertal divergence. | ancient population structure shaping contemporary genetic variation has been recently appreciated and has important implications regarding our understanding of the structure of modern human genomes. we identified a ∼36-kb dna segment in the human genome that displays an ancient substructure. the variation at this locus exists primarily as two highly divergent haplogroups. one of these haplogroups (the ne1 haplogroup) aligns with the neandertal haplotype and contains a 4.6-kb deletion polymorphis ... | 2013 | 23593015 |
| the vertebral column of the regourdou 1 neandertal. | the regourdou 1 partial skeleton was found in 1957 in level iv of the eponymous site located in montignac-sur-vézère (dordogne, france) and until now it has been only partially published. the ongoing revision of the faunal remains from the site has yielded additional fossils that pertain to this skeleton. here we study the vertebral column of this individual, providing for the first time detailed descriptions for all of the fossils and reassessing the anatomical position of all of the fragments. ... | 2013 | 23566460 |
| stature, body mass, and brain size: a two-million-year odyssey. | physical size has been critical in the evolutionary success of the genus homo over the past 2.4 million-years. an acceleration in the expansion of savannah grasslands in africa from 1.6ma to 1.2ma witnessed concomitant increases in physical stature (150-170cm), weight (50-70kg), and brain size (750-900cm(3)). with the onset of 100,000year middle pleistocene glacial cycles ("ice ages") some 780,000years ago, large-bodied homo groups had reached modern size and had successfully dispersed from equa ... | 2013 | 23562520 |
| possible interbreeding in late italian neanderthals? new data from the mezzena jaw (monti lessini, verona, italy). | in this article we examine the mandible of riparo mezzena a middle paleolithic rockshelter in the monti lessini (ne italy, verona) found in 1957 in association with charentian mousterian lithic assemblages. mitochondrial dna analysis performed on this jaw and on other cranial fragments found at the same stratigraphic level has led to the identification of the only genetically typed neanderthal of the italian peninsula and has confirmed through direct dating that it belongs to a late neanderthal. ... | 2013 | 23544098 |
| thickened cranial vault and parasagittal keeling: correlated traits and autapomorphies of homo erectus? | homo erectus sensu lato (s.l.) is a key species in the hominin fossil record for the study of human evolution, being one of the first species discovered and perhaps the most documented, but also because of its long temporal range and having dispersed out of africa earlier than any other human species. here i test two proposed autapomorphic traits of h. erectus, namely the increased thickness of the upper cranial vault and parasagittal keeling. the definition of these two anatomical features and ... | 2013 | 23541383 |
| the neandertal vertebral column 1: the cervical spine. | this paper provides a metric analysis of the neandertal cervical spine in relation to modern human variation. all seven cervical vertebrae have been analysed. metric data from eight neandertal individuals are compared with a large sample of modern humans. the significance of morphometric differences is tested using both z-scores and two-tailed wilcoxon signed rank tests. the results identify significant metric and morphological differences between neandertals and modern humans in all seven cervi ... | 2013 | 23541382 |
| the utility of domestic dogs in assessing human morphological variation. | although distantly related to us, dogs are a highly variable cohabitating taxon that may provide clues relevant to hypotheses of human variation, evolution, and development. here we first propose the utility of domestic dogs as a heuristic model for the study of human variation and evolution. next we provide a case study of variation in a mandibular relationship previously suggested to distinguish neanderthals from modern humans taxonomically. we show that for dogs varying greatly in size and fo ... | 2013 | 23510723 |
| new neanderthal remains from mani peninsula, southern greece: the kalamakia middle paleolithic cave site. | the kalamakia cave, a middle paleolithic site on the western coast of the mani peninsula, greece, was excavated in 1993-2006 by an interdisciplinary team from the ephoreia of paleoanthropology and speleology (greek ministry of culture) and the muséum national d'histoire naturelle (paris). the site is dated to between ca. 100,000 and >39,000 years bp (before present) and has yielded mousterian lithics, a rich fauna, and human remains from several layers. the latter include 10 isolated teeth, a cr ... | 2013 | 23490263 |
| new insights into differences in brain organization between neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. | previous research has identified morphological differences between the brains of neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (amhs). however, studies using endocasts or the cranium itself are limited to investigating external surface features and the overall size and shape of the brain. a complementary approach uses comparative primate data to estimate the size of internal brain areas. previous attempts to do this have generally assumed that identical total brain volumes imply identical internal ... | 2013 | 23486442 |
| climatic conditions for the last neanderthals: herpetofaunal record of gorham’s cave, gibraltar. | gorham’s cave is located in the british territory of gibraltar in the southernmost end of the iberian peninsula. recent excavations, which began in 1997, have exposed an 18 m archaeological sequence that covered the last evidence of neanderthal occupation and the first evidence of modern human occupation in the cave. by applying the mutual climatic range method on the amphibian and reptile assemblages, we propose here new quantitative data on the terrestrial climatic conditions throughout the la ... | 2013 | 23484636 |
| lipoxygenase pathways in homo neanderthalensis: functional comparison with homo sapiens isoforms. | lipoxygenases (lox) have been implicated in biosynthesis of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators, and a previous report suggested compromised leukotriene signaling in h. neanderthalensis. to search for corresponding differences in leukotriene biosynthesis, we screened the neandertal genome for lox genes and found that, as modern humans, this archaic hominid contains six lox genes (nalox15, nalox12, nalox5, nalox15b, nalox12b, and naloxe3) and one pseudogene. in the neandertal genome, 60-75% of t ... | 2013 | 23475662 |
| late middle pleistocene hominin teeth from panxian dadong, south china. | the hominin teeth and evidence of hominin activities recovered from 1991 to 2005 at the panxian dadong site in south china are dated to the late middle pleistocene (mis 8-6 or ca. 130-300 ka), a period for which very little is known about the morphology of asian populations. the present study provides the first detailed morphometric description and comparisons of four hominin teeth (i(1), c1, p(3) and p3) from this site. our study shows that the panxian dadong teeth combine archaic and derived f ... | 2013 | 23465337 |
| new information on the modifications of the neandertal suprainiac fossa during growth and development and on its etiology. | the question of whether suprainiac depressions observed on neandertals and in other human samples are homologous is widely discussed. recently (balzeau and rougier, 2010), we ascertained the autapomorphic status of the neandertal suprainiac fossa as a depression showing specific external bone features together with a thinning of the diploic layer with no substantial remodeling nor variation in the external table thickness. a suprainiac fossa with these characteristics is systematically present o ... | 2013 | 23460369 |
| extreme mobility in the late pleistocene? comparing limb biomechanics among fossil homo, varsity athletes and holocene foragers. | descriptions of pleistocene activity patterns often derive from comparisons of long bone diaphyseal robusticity across contemporaneous fossilized hominins. the purpose of this study is to augment existing understanding of pleistocene hominin mobility patterns by interpreting fossil variation through comparisons with a) living human athletes with known activity patterns, and b) holocene foragers where descriptions of group-level activity patterns are available. relative tibial rigidity (midshaft ... | 2013 | 23453436 |
| reassessment of the la ferrassie 3 neandertal ossicular chain. | the ossicular chain in la ferrassie 3 was briefly described in the monograph on the la ferrassie neandertal children, but to date has not been the subject of detailed study. we provide new data on these important fossils and re-examine some previous suggestions of derived neandertal features in the middle ear ossicles based on more limited evidence. the malleus shows a curved lateral margin of the manubrium and a relatively large head. the incus shows a tall articular facet, a depressed area on ... | 2013 | 23434318 |
| demography and the demise of neandertals: a comment on 'tenfold population increase in western europe at the neandertal-to-modern human transition'. | | 2013 | 23434317 |
| rabbits and hominin survival in iberia. | high dependence on the hunting and consumption of large mammals by some hominins may have limited their survival once their preferred quarry became scarce or disappeared. adaptation to smaller residual prey would have been essential after the many large-bodied species decreased in numbers. we focus on the use of a superabundant species, the rabbit, to demonstrate the importance of this taxon in iberia as fundamental to predators. we show that the use of the rabbit over time has increased, and th ... | 2013 | 23422239 |
| a neanderthal lower molar from stajnia cave, poland. | the primary aim of this study was to conduct a taxonomic assessment of the second of three isolated human teeth found in the stajnia cave (north of the carpathians, poland) in 2008. the specimen was located near a human tooth (s5000), which was identified by urbanowski et al. (2010) as a neanderthal permanent upper molar. both of these teeth were excavated from the d2 layer, which belongs to the d stratigraphic complex comprising the archaeological assemblage associated with the micoquian tradit ... | 2013 | 23415376 |
| homo sapiens, homo neanderthalensis and the denisova specimen: new insights on their evolutionary histories using whole-genome comparisons. | after a brief review of the most recent findings in the study of human evolution, an extensive comparison of the complete genomes of our nearest relative, the chimpanzee (pan troglodytes), of extant homo sapiens, archaic homo neanderthalensis and the denisova specimen were made. the focus was on non-synonymous mutations, which consequently had an impact on protein levels and these changes were classified according to degree of effect. a total of 10,447 non-synonymous substitutions were found in ... | 2012 | 23413113 |
| higher levels of neanderthal ancestry in east asians than in europeans. | neanderthals were a group of archaic hominins that occupied most of europe and parts of western asia from ∼30,000 to 300,000 years ago (kya). they coexisted with modern humans during part of this time. previous genetic analyses that compared a draft sequence of the neanderthal genome with genomes of several modern humans concluded that neanderthals made a small (1-4%) contribution to the gene pools of all non-african populations. this observation was consistent with a single episode of admixture ... | 2013 | 23410836 |
| the tooth of a neanderthal child from stajnia cave, poland. | | 2013 | 23394709 |
| radiocarbon dating casts doubt on the late chronology of the middle to upper palaeolithic transition in southern iberia. | it is commonly accepted that some of the latest dates for neanderthal fossils and mousterian industries are found south of the ebro valley in iberia at ca. 36 ka calbp (calibrated radiocarbon date ranges). in contrast, to the north of the valley the mousterian disappears shortly before the proto-aurignacian appears at ca. 42 ka calbp. the latter is most likely produced by anatomically modern humans. however, two-thirds of dates from the south are radiocarbon dates, a technique that is particular ... | 2013 | 23382220 |
| function and regulation of auts2, a gene implicated in autism and human evolution. | nucleotide changes in the auts2 locus, some of which affect only noncoding regions, are associated with autism and other neurological disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, dyslexia, motor delay, language delay, visual impairment, microcephaly, and alcohol consumption. in addition, auts2 contains the most significantly accelerated genomic region differentiating humans from neanderthals, which is primarily composed of noncoding variants. however, the function and ... | 2013 | 23349641 |
| periodontal disease and dental caries from krapina neanderthal to contemporary man - skeletal studies. | the aim of this study was the quantification of alveolar bone resorption as well as the number and percentage of teeth with dental caries. | 2012 | 23331387 |
| human brain evolution: transcripts, metabolites and their regulators. | what evolutionary events led to the emergence of human cognition? although the genetic differences separating modern humans from both non-human primates (for example, chimpanzees) and archaic hominins (neanderthals and denisovans) are known, linking human-specific mutations to the cognitive phenotype remains a challenge. one strategy is to focus on human-specific changes at the level of intermediate phenotypes, such as gene expression and metabolism, in conjunction with evolutionary changes in g ... | 2013 | 23324662 |
| neandertal origin of genetic variation at the cluster of oas immunity genes. | analyses of ancient dna from extinct humans reveal signals of at least two independent hybridization events in the history of non-african populations. to date, there are very few examples of specific genetic variants that have been rigorously identified as introgressive. here, we survey dna sequence variation in the oas gene cluster on chromosome 12 and provide strong evidence that a haplotype extending for ~185 kb introgressed from neandertals. this haplotype is nearly restricted to eurasians a ... | 2013 | 23315957 |
| geometric variation of the frontal squama in the genus homo: frontal bulging and the origin of modern human morphology. | the majority of studies of frontal bone morphology in paleoanthropology have analyzed the frontal squama and the browridge as a single unit, mixing information from different functional elements. taking into account that the bulging of the frontal bone is often described as a species-specific trait of homo sapiens, in this article we analyze variation in the midsagittal profile of the genus homo, focusing on the frontal squama alone, using landmark-based superimpositions and principal components ... | 2013 | 23292748 |
| [neandertal and homo sapiens: to meet, or not to meet?]. | | 2012 | 23290415 |
| new wrist bones of homo floresiensis from liang bua (flores, indonesia). | the carpals from the homo floresiensis type specimen (lb1) lack features that compose the shared, derived complex of the radial side of the wrist in neandertals and modern humans. this paper comprises a description and three-dimensional morphometric analysis of new carpals from at least one other individual at liang bua attributed to h. floresiensis: a right capitate and two hamates. the new capitate is smaller than that of lb1 but is nearly identical in morphology. as with capitates from extant ... | 2013 | 23290261 |
| dynamics of genetic and morphological variability within neandertals. | paleogenomics may suggest changes to the way anthropologists have discussed the dynamics and morphological diversity among neandertals. genetic comparisons show that later neandertals had relatively low autosomal genetic variation compared to recent humans. the known mitochondrial sample from neandertals covers a broader geographic and temporal range, and shows greater diversity. this review addresses how genetic data compare to morphological and archaeological evidence about neandertal variatio ... | 2012 | 23274747 |
| anterior tooth root morphology and size in neanderthals: taxonomic and functional implications. | comparing modern humans and neanderthals, we have previously shown that recent modern humans (rmh) and neanderthals differ in anterior root lengths, and that this difference cannot be explained by group differences in overall mandibular size. here, we first document the evolutionary changes of root size and shape of the anterior upper and lower dentition in a broad chronological and geographical framework. we then use the size and shape differences between rmh and neanderthals to classify severa ... | 2013 | 23266488 |
| caveman couture. neandertals may have worn dark feathers. | | 2012 | 23230791 |
| a functional snp upstream of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor gene (adrb2) is associated with obesity in oceanic populations. | obesity is a growing health concern in the oceanic populations. to investigate the genetic factors associated with adult obesity in the oceanic populations, the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor (adrb2) gene with obesity was examined in 694 adults living in tonga and solomon islands. | 2013 | 23229733 |
| a recent evolutionary change affects a regulatory element in the human foxp2 gene. | the foxp2 gene is required for normal development of speech and language. by isolating and sequencing foxp2 genomic dna fragments from a 49,000-year-old iberian neandertal and 50 present-day humans, we have identified substitutions in the gene shared by all or nearly all present-day humans but absent or polymorphic in neandertals. one such substitution is localized in intron 8 and affects a binding site for the transcription factor pou3f2, which is highly conserved among vertebrates. we find tha ... | 2013 | 23197593 |
| hominin dispersal into the nefud desert and middle palaeolithic settlement along the jubbah palaeolake, northern arabia. | the arabian peninsula is a key region for understanding hominin dispersals and the effect of climate change on prehistoric demography, although little information on these topics is presently available owing to the poor preservation of archaeological sites in this desert environment. here, we describe the discovery of three stratified and buried archaeological sites in the nefud desert, which includes the oldest dated occupation for the region. the stone tool assemblages are identified as a midd ... | 2012 | 23185454 |
| nanogp8: evolution of a human-specific retro-oncogene. | nanogp8 is a human (homo sapiens) retrogene, expressed predominantly in cancer cells where its protein product is tumorigenic. it arose through retrotransposition from its parent gene, nanog, which is expressed predominantly in embryonic stem cells. based on identification of fixed and polymorphic variants in a genetically diverse set of human nanog and nanogp8 sequences, we estimated the evolutionary origin of nanogp8 at approximately 0.9 to 2.5 million years ago, more recent than previously es ... | 2012 | 23173096 |
| intrapopulation variation in macro tooth wear patterns--a case study from igloolik, canada. | the pattern of human tooth wear-the way it varies between teeth in the mouth-is crucial to our understanding of important questions in archeology and paleoanthropology, such as the contrasts in diet and behavior between neanderthals and early modern humans in europe and asia, or with the adoption of agriculture in the americas. little is known, however, about the way in which wear patterns develop with increasing age or the way in which they differ between males and females. one explanation is t ... | 2012 | 23125036 |
| archaic human genomics. | for much of the 20th century, the predominant view of human evolutionary history was derived from the fossil record. homo erectus was seen arising in africa from an earlier member of the genus and then spreading throughout the old world and into the oceania. a regional continuity model of anagenetic change from h. erectus via various intermediate archaic species into the modern humans in each of the regions inhabited by h. erectus was labeled the multiregional model of human evolution (mre). a c ... | 2012 | 23124308 |
| extremely rare interbreeding events can explain neanderthal dna in living humans. | considering the recent experimental discovery of green et al that present-day non-africans have 1 to [formula: see text] of their nuclear dna of neanderthal origin, we propose here a model which is able to quantify the genetic interbreeding between two subpopulations with equal fitness, living in the same geographic region. the model consists of a solvable system of deterministic ordinary differential equations containing as a stochastic ingredient a realization of the neutral wright-fisher proc ... | 2012 | 23112810 |
| radiocarbon dates from the grotte du renne and saint-césaire support a neandertal origin for the châtelperronian. | the transition from the middle paleolithic (mp) to upper paleolithic (up) is marked by the replacement of late neandertals by modern humans in europe between 50,000 and 40,000 y ago. châtelperronian (cp) artifact assemblages found in central france and northern spain date to this time period. so far, it is the only such assemblage type that has yielded neandertal remains directly associated with up style artifacts. cp assemblages also include body ornaments, otherwise virtually unknown in the ne ... | 2012 | 23112183 |
| neandertal diet, voracious bacteria and the hunger for knowledge: reply to tomczyk's comments. | | 2012 | 23103051 |
| modeling neanderthal clothing using ethnographic analogues. | although direct evidence for neanderthal clothing is essentially nonexistent, information about paleolithic clothing could provide insights into the biological, technological, and behavioral capabilities of neanderthals. this paper takes a new approach to understanding neanderthal clothing through the collection and analysis of clothing data for 245 recent hunter-gatherer groups. these data are tested against environmental factors to infer what clothing humans tend to wear under different condit ... | 2012 | 23084621 |
| new chronology for the middle palaeolithic of the southern caucasus suggests early demise of neanderthals in this region. | neanderthal populations of the southern and northern caucasus became locally extinct during the late pleistocene. the timing of their extinction is key to our understanding of the relationship between neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (amh) in eurasia. recent re-dating of the end of the middle palaeolithic (mp) at mezmaiskaya cave, northern caucasus, and ortvale klde, southern caucasus, suggests that neanderthals did not survive after 39 ka cal bp (thousands of years ago, calibrated be ... | 2012 | 23084367 |
| north african populations carry the signature of admixture with neandertals. | one of the main findings derived from the analysis of the neandertal genome was the evidence for admixture between neandertals and non-african modern humans. an alternative scenario is that the ancestral population of non-africans was closer to neandertals than to africans because of ancient population substructure. thus, the study of north african populations is crucial for testing both hypotheses. we analyzed a total of 780,000 snps in 125 individuals representing seven different north african ... | 2012 | 23082212 |
| cervical and crown outline analysis of worn neanderthal and modern human lower second deciduous molars. | despite the general increase in digital techniques for dental morphometric analyses, only a few methods are available to study worn teeth. moreover, permanent dentitions are studied much more frequently than deciduous teeth. in this study, we address both issues by providing a taxonomic classification of neanderthal and modern human (mh) lower second deciduous molars (dm(2) s) through the analysis of crown and cervical outlines. crown and cervical outlines were obtained from a three-dimensional ... | 2012 | 23077004 |
| the date of interbreeding between neandertals and modern humans. | comparisons of dna sequences between neandertals and present-day humans have shown that neandertals share more genetic variants with non-africans than with africans. this could be due to interbreeding between neandertals and modern humans when the two groups met subsequent to the emergence of modern humans outside africa. however, it could also be due to population structure that antedates the origin of neandertal ancestors in africa. we measure the extent of linkage disequilibrium (ld) in the g ... | 2012 | 23055938 |
| towards the middle palaeolithic in western europe: the case of orgnac 3 (southeastern france). | the sequence of orgnac 3 in southern europe is dated to mis 9 and the beginning of mis 8. the site contains records of upper acheulian occupations with evidence of middle palaeolithic technological strategies at the top of the sequence. in order to address the question of gradual versus punctuated changes in the onset of the middle palaeolithic, nine criteria on subsistence strategies and technological behaviour were selected throughout the whole stratigraphic sequence to describe behavioural pa ... | 2012 | 23040107 |
| long anterior mandibular tooth roots in neanderthals are not the result of their large jaws. | tooth root length has been shown to taxonomically distinguish neanderthals from modern humans. however, this may result from differences in jaw size between both taxa, although most previous studies have revealed a very low or non-existent correlation between tooth size and jaw size in recent modern humans. we therefore investigated, within a broader taxonomical frame, to what extent measurements on the anterior tooth roots and the symphyseal region covary. our samples comprise permanent mandibu ... | 2012 | 23000085 |
| archaeology. did neandertals truly bury their dead? | | 2012 | 22997298 |
| middle pleistocene human facial morphology in an evolutionary and developmental context. | neanderthals and modern humans exhibit distinct facial architectures. the patterning of facial morphology of their predecessors, the middle pleistocene humans, is more mosaic showing a mix of archaic and modern morphologies. significant changes in facial size and robusticity occurred throughout pleistocene human evolution, resulting in temporal trends in both facial reduction and enlargement. however, the allometric patterning in facial morphology in archaic humans is not well understood. this s ... | 2012 | 22981042 |
| the mousterian child from teshik-tash is a neanderthal: a geometric morphometric study of the frontal bone. | in the 1930s subadult hominin remains and mousterian artifacts were discovered in the teshik-tash cave in south uzbekistan. since then, the majority of the scientific community has interpreted teshik-tash as a neanderthal. however, some have considered aspects of the morphology of the teshik-tash skull to be more similar to fossil modern humans such as those represented at skhūl and qafzeh, or to subadult upper paleolithic modern humans. here we present a 3d geometric morphometric analysis of th ... | 2012 | 22976750 |
| neandertal mobility and large-game hunting: the exploitation of reindeer during the quina mousterian at chez-pinaud jonzac (charente-maritime, france). | neandertals were effective hunters of large ungulates throughout their geographic and temporal ranges. equipped with this knowledge, researchers in paleoanthropology continue to seek insight on the relationships between hunting and subsistence strategies with other components of the neandertals' niche, such as mobility, site use, and lithic technology. the quina mousterian deposits from the rockshelter site of chez pinaud jonzac (charente-maritime, france; hereafter jonzac) offer an excellent op ... | 2012 | 22951376 |
| unexpectedly many extinct hominins. | recent studies indicate that neanderthal and denisova hominins may have been separate species, while debate continues on the status of homo floresiensis. the decade-long debate between "splitters," who recognize over 20 hominin species, and "lumpers," who maintain that all these fossils belong to just a few lineages, illustrates that we do not know how many extinct hominin species to expect. here, we present probability distributions for the number of speciation events and the number of contempo ... | 2012 | 22946817 |
| hand to mouth in a neandertal: right-handedness in regourdou 1. | we describe and analyze a neandertal postcranial skeleton and dentition, which together show unambiguous signs of right-handedness. asymmetries between the left and right upper arm in regourdou 1 were identified nearly 20 years ago, then confirmed by more detailed analyses of the inner bone structure for the clavicle, humerus, radius and ulna. the total pattern of all bones in the shoulder and arm reveals that regourdou 1 was a right-hander. confirmatory evidence comes from the mandibular inciso ... | 2012 | 22937134 |
| a high-coverage genome sequence from an archaic denisovan individual. | we present a dna library preparation method that has allowed us to reconstruct a high-coverage (30×) genome sequence of a denisovan, an extinct relative of neandertals. the quality of this genome allows a direct estimation of denisovan heterozygosity indicating that genetic diversity in these archaic hominins was extremely low. it also allows tentative dating of the specimen on the basis of "missing evolution" in its genome, detailed measurements of denisovan and neandertal admixture into presen ... | 2012 | 22936568 |
| new foot remains from the gran dolina-td6 early pleistocene site (sierra de atapuerca, burgos, spain). | this paper presents and describes new foot fossils from the species homo antecessor, found in level td6 of the site of gran dolina (sierra de atapuerca, burgos, spain). these new fossils consist of an almost complete left talus (atd6-95) and the proximal three-quarters of a right fourth metatarsal (atd6-124). the talus atd6-95 is tentatively assigned to hominin 10 of the td6 sample, an adult male specimen with which the second metatarsal atd6-70+107 (already published) is also tentatively associ ... | 2012 | 22921478 |
| effect of ancient population structure on the degree of polymorphism shared between modern human populations and ancient hominins. | recent comparisons between anatomically modern humans and ancient genomes of other hominins have raised the tantalizing, and hotly debated, possibility of hybridization. although several tests of hybridization have been devised, they all rely on the degree to which different modern populations share genetic polymorphisms with the ancient genomes of other hominins. however, spatial population structure is expected to generate genetic patterns similar to those that might be attributed to hybridiza ... | 2012 | 22893688 |
| a haplotype at stat2 introgressed from neanderthals and serves as a candidate of positive selection in papua new guinea. | signals of archaic admixture have been identified through comparisons of the draft neanderthal and denisova genomes with those of living humans. studies of individual loci contributing to these genome-wide average signals are required for characterization of the introgression process and investigation of whether archaic variants conferred an adaptive advantage to the ancestors of contemporary human populations. however, no definitive case of adaptive introgression has yet been described. here we ... | 2012 | 22883142 |
| profile: joão zilhão. neandertal champion defends the reputation of our closest cousins. | | 2012 | 22879480 |
| comments on soltysiak's paper: "comment: low dental caries rate in neandertals: the result of diet or the oral flora compositions?". | a low frequency of dental caries in neandertal population is still puzzling. many authors stress that the lower frequency of dental caries was related to a meat diet. however, a recent publication in homo - journal comparative human biology presented a new interpretation of dental caries in neandertals. in this article, soltysiak supports the thesis that the lower frequency of caries in the neandertal population from the near east could not be related to the low-sugar diet, but rather to the abs ... | 2012 | 22858155 |
| border cave and the beginning of the later stone age in south africa. | the transition from the middle stone age (msa) to the later stone age (lsa) in south africa was not associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans and the extinction of neandertals, as in the middle to upper paleolithic transition in western europe. it has therefore attracted less attention, yet it provides insights into patterns of technological evolution not associated with a new hominin. data from border cave (kwazulu-natal) show a strong pattern of technological change at appro ... | 2012 | 22847432 |
| volcanic ash layers illuminate the resilience of neanderthals and early modern humans to natural hazards. | marked changes in human dispersal and development during the middle to upper paleolithic transition have been attributed to massive volcanic eruption and/or severe climatic deterioration. we test this concept using records of volcanic ash layers of the campanian ignimbrite eruption dated to ca. 40,000 y ago (40 ka b.p.). the distribution of the campanian ignimbrite has been enhanced by the discovery of cryptotephra deposits (volcanic ash layers that are not visible to the naked eye) in archaeolo ... | 2012 | 22826222 |
| neandertal humeri may reflect adaptation to scraping tasks, but not spear thrusting. | unique compared with recent and prehistoric homo sapiens, neandertal humeri are characterised by a pronounced right-dominant bilateral strength asymmetry and an anteroposteriorly strengthened diaphyseal shape. remodeling in response to asymmetric forces imposed during regular underhanded spear thrusting is the most influential explanatory hypothesis. the core tenet of the "spear thrusting hypothesis", that underhand thrusting requires greater muscle activity on the right side of the body compare ... | 2012 | 22815742 |
| neanderthal medics? evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus. | neanderthals disappeared sometime between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago. until recently, neanderthals were understood to have been predominantly meat-eaters; however, a growing body of evidence suggests their diet also included plants. we present the results of a study, in which sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (td-gc-ms) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (py-gc-ms) were combined with morphological analysis of plant microfossils, to identify mater ... | 2012 | 22806252 |
| revisiting dental fluctuating asymmetry in neandertals and modern humans. | previous studies have suggested that neandertals experienced greater physiological stress and/or were less capable of mitigating stress than most prehistoric modern human populations. the current study compares estimates of dental fluctuating asymmetry (dfa) for prehistoric inupiat from point hope alaska, the late archaic, and protohistoric periods from ohio and west virginia, and a modern sample from ohio to neandertals from europe and southwest asia. dfa results from developmental perturbation ... | 2012 | 22791408 |
| the first modern europeans. | the discovery of new human fossil remains is one of the most obvious ways to improve our understanding of the dynamics of human evolution. the reanalysis of existing fossils using newer methods is also crucial, and may lead to a reconsideration of the biological and taxonomical status of some specimens, and improve our understanding of highly debated periods in human prehistory. this is particularly true for those remains that have previously been studied using traditional approaches, with only ... | 2012 | 22781582 |
| hominoid dispersal patterns and human evolution. | recent advances in dna and isotope analyses have allowed tentative reconstructions of dispersal strategies of plio-pleistocene hominins.(1,2) comparing their findings to dispersal patterns of some extant apes and humans suggested groups of related males and unrelated females in neandertals indicating patrilocality(2) and pan-like male philopatry in australopiths.(1) here we review the demographic, ethnographic, and genetic evidence of dispersal patterns in extant apes and humans and compare the ... | 2012 | 22718478 |
| u-series dating of paleolithic art in 11 caves in spain. | paleolithic cave art is an exceptional archive of early human symbolic behavior, but because obtaining reliable dates has been difficult, its chronology is still poorly understood after more than a century of study. we present uranium-series disequilibrium dates of calcite deposits overlying or underlying art found in 11 caves, including the united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization (unesco) world heritage sites of altamira, el castillo, and tito bustillo, spain. the resu ... | 2012 | 22700921 |
| [progresses on neandertal genomics]. | neandertal is our closest known relative and also an archaic hominid reserving the richest fossils. whether the neandertals exchanged their dna with modern human or not is a matter of debate on the modern human origin. the progresses on the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of neandertals in recent years were reviewed in this paper. recent study has revealed possible genetic contribution of neandertals to the modern human to some extent, which arose the rethinking of modern human origin. the exp ... | 2012 | 22698735 |
| neandertal and denisovan retroviruses. | | 2012 | 22677281 |
| specific inactivation of two immunomodulatory siglec genes during human evolution. | sialic acid-recognizing ig-like lectins (siglecs) are signaling receptors that modulate immune responses, and are targeted for interactions by certain pathogens. we describe two primate siglecs that were rendered nonfunctional by single genetic events during hominin evolution after our common ancestor with the chimpanzee. siglec13 was deleted by an alu-mediated recombination event, and a single base pair deletion disrupted the orf of siglec17. siglec-13 is expressed on chimpanzee monocytes, inna ... | 2012 | 22665810 |
| differences between neandertal and modern human infant and child growth models. | studying the emergence of distinctive human growth patterns is essential to understanding the evolution of our species. the large number of neandertal fossils makes this species the best candidate for a comparative study of growth patterns in archaic and modern humans. here, neandertal height growth during infancy and early childhood is described using a mathematical model. height growth velocities for individuals five years old or younger are modelled as age functions based on different estimat ... | 2012 | 22658332 |
| did a discrete event 200,000-100,000 years ago produce modern humans? | scenarios for modern human origins are often predicated on the assumption that modern humans arose 200,000-100,000 years ago in africa. this assumption implies that something 'special' happened at this point in time in africa, such as the speciation that produced homo sapiens, a severe bottleneck in human population size, or a combination of the two. the common thread is that after the divergence of the modern human and neandertal evolutionary lineages ∼400,000 years ago, there was another discr ... | 2012 | 22658331 |
| middle paleolithic human remains from the gruta da oliveira (torres novas), portugal. | additional middle paleolithic human remains from layers 17, 18, and 22 of the gruta da oliveira, portugal consist of a proximal manual phalanx 2 (oliveira 5), a partial postcanine tooth (oliveira 6), a humeral diaphysis (oliveira 7), a distal mandibular molar (oliveira 8), and a mandibular premolar (p(3) ) (oliveira 9). oliveira 5, 6, and 8 are unremarkable for late pleistocene humans. the oliveira 7 right humerus is moderately robust or the individual had the stocky body proportions of other eu ... | 2012 | 22610966 |
| different cranial ontogeny in europeans and southern africans. | modern human populations differ in developmental processes and in several phenotypic traits. however, the link between ontogenetic variation and human diversification has not been frequently addressed. here, we analysed craniofacial ontogenies by means of geometric-morphometrics of europeans and southern africans, according to dental and chronological ages. results suggest that different adult cranial morphologies between southern africans and europeans arise by a combination of processes that i ... | 2012 | 22558270 |
| variations and asymmetries in regional brain surface in the genus homo. | paleoneurology is an important field of research within human evolution studies. variations in size and shape of an endocast help to differentiate among fossil hominin species whereas endocranial asymmetries are related to behavior and cognitive function. here we analyse variations of the surface of the frontal, parieto-temporal and occipital lobes among different species of homo, including 39 fossil hominins, ten fossil anatomically modern homo sapiens and 100 endocasts of extant modern humans. ... | 2012 | 22542169 |
| new human fossil to the last neanderthals in central spain (jarama vi, valdesotos, guadalajara, spain). | | 2012 | 22516305 |
| ancient structure in africa unlikely to explain neanderthal and non-african genetic similarity. | neanderthals have been shown to share more genetic variants with present-day non-africans than africans. recent admixture between neanderthals and modern humans outside of africa was proposed as the most parsimonious explanation for this observation. however, the hypothesis of ancient population structure within africa could not be ruled out as an alternative explanation. we use simulations to test whether the site frequency spectrum, conditioned on a derived neanderthal and an ancestral yoruba ... | 2012 | 22513287 |
| genetic adaptation of fatty-acid metabolism: a human-specific haplotype increasing the biosynthesis of long-chain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. | omega-3 and omega-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (lc-pufas) are essential for the development and function of the human brain. they can be obtained directly from food, e.g., fish, or synthesized from precursor molecules found in vegetable oils. to determine the importance of genetic variability to fatty-acid biosynthesis, we studied fads1 and fads2, which encode rate-limiting enzymes for fatty-acid conversion. we performed genome-wide genotyping (n = 5,652 individuals) and targeted res ... | 2012 | 22503634 |
| a "copernican" reassessment of the human mitochondrial dna tree from its root. | mutational events along the human mtdna phylogeny are traditionally identified relative to the revised cambridge reference sequence, a contemporary european sequence published in 1981. this historical choice is a continuous source of inconsistencies, misinterpretations, and errors in medical, forensic, and population genetic studies. here, after having refined the human mtdna phylogeny to an unprecedented level by adding information from 8,216 modern mitogenomes, we propose switching the referen ... | 2012 | 22482806 |
| fossil human remains from bolomor cave (valencia, spain). | systematic excavations carried out since 1989 at bolomor cave have led to the recovery of four pleistocene human fossil remains, consisting of a fibular fragment, two isolated teeth, and a nearly complete adult parietal bone. all of these specimens date to the late middle and early late pleistocene (mis 7-5e). the fibular fragment shows thick cortical bone, an archaic feature found in non-modern (i.e. non-homo sapiens) members of the genus homo. among the dental remains, the lack of a midtrigoni ... | 2012 | 22440746 |
| human evolution out of africa: the role of refugia and climate change. | although an african origin of the modern human species is generally accepted, the evolutionary processes involved in the speciation, geographical spread, and eventual extinction of archaic humans outside of africa are much debated. an additional complexity has been the recent evidence of limited interbreeding between modern humans and the neandertals and denisovans. modern human migrations and interactions began during the buildup to the last glacial maximum, starting about 100,000 years ago. by ... | 2012 | 22422974 |
| analysis of human accelerated dna regions using archaic hominin genomes. | several previous comparisons of the human genome with other primate and vertebrate genomes identified genomic regions that are highly conserved in vertebrate evolution but fast-evolving on the human lineage. these human accelerated regions (hars) may be regions of past adaptive evolution in humans. alternatively, they may be the result of non-adaptive processes, such as biased gene conversion. we captured and sequenced dna from a collection of previously published hars using dna from an iberian ... | 2012 | 22412940 |
| predicting homo pigmentation phenotype through genomic data: from neanderthal to james watson. | human pigmentation is regulated by several genes acting at different stages of melanin formation. functional and association studies have elucidated the role of several of these genes in pigmentation phenotypes. forensic and evolutionary studies can benefit from this knowledge. | 2012 | 22411106 |
| right-handedness, lateralization and language in neanderthals: a comment on frayer et al. (2010). | | 2012 | 22408126 |
| presumed symbolic use of diurnal raptors by neanderthals. | in africa and western eurasia, occurrences of burials and utilized ocher fragments during the late middle and early late pleistocene are often considered evidence for the emergence of symbolically-mediated behavior. perhaps less controversial for the study of human cognitive evolution are finds of marine shell beads and complex designs on organic and mineral artifacts in early modern human (emh) assemblages conservatively dated to ≈ 100-60 kilo-years (ka) ago. here we show that, in france, neand ... | 2012 | 22403717 |
| the mesosternum of the regourdou 1 neandertal revisited. | fossil hominin mesosterna, while scarce, can provide useful morphological data in addition to rib remains regarding aspects of thoracic size and shape. these data, in turn, can address hypotheses related to respiratory dynamics, climatic adaptation, and ecogeographical patterning. in this study, we re-evaluate the anatomical representation of the mesosternum of the regourdou 1 neandertal individual that alters key aspects of the original description of the fossil remains. we compare this specime ... | 2012 | 22382084 |
| partial genetic turnover in neandertals: continuity in the east and population replacement in the west. | remarkably little is known about the population-level processes leading up to the extinction of the neandertal. to examine this, we use mitochondrial dna sequences from 13 neandertal individuals, including a novel sequence from northern spain, to examine neandertal demographic history. our analyses indicate that recent western european neandertals (<48 kyr) constitute a tightly defined group with low mitochondrial genetic variation in comparison with both eastern and older (>48 kyr) european nea ... | 2012 | 22362080 |
| variation in enamel thickness within the genus homo. | recent humans and their fossil relatives are classified as having thick molar enamel, one of very few dental traits that distinguish hominins from living african apes. however, little is known about enamel thickness in the earliest members of the genus homo, and recent studies of later homo report considerable intra- and inter-specific variation. in order to assess taxonomic, geographic, and temporal trends in enamel thickness, we applied micro-computed tomographic imaging to 150 fossil homo tee ... | 2012 | 22361504 |
| tooth wear, neanderthal facial morphology and the anterior dental loading hypothesis. | the anterior dental loading hypothesis states that the unique neanderthal facial and dental anatomy was an adaptive response to the regular application of heavy forces resulting from both the masticatory and cultural use of the anterior teeth. heavy anterior tooth wear frequently observed in neanderthal specimens is cited as a main source of evidence for heavy forces being applied to these teeth. from this, it might be predicted that the wear shown on the anterior teeth of neanderthals would gre ... | 2012 | 22341317 |
| early pleistocene human humeri from the gran dolina-td6 site (sierra de atapuerca, spain). | in this report, we present a morphometric comparative study of two early pleistocene humeri recovered from the td6 level of the gran dolina cave site in sierra de atapuerca, northern spain. atd6-121 belongs to a child between 4 and 6 years old, whereas atd6-148 corresponds to an adult. atd6-148 exhibits the typical pattern of the genus homo, but it also shows a large olecranon fossa and very thin medial and lateral pillars (also present in atd6-121), sharing these features with european middle p ... | 2012 | 22328492 |
| an ancestral mir-1304 allele present in neanderthals regulates genes involved in enamel formation and could explain dental differences with modern humans. | genetic changes in regulatory elements are likely to result in phenotypic effects that might explain population-specific as well as species-specific traits. micrornas (mirnas) are posttranscriptional repressors involved in the control of almost every biological process. these small noncoding rnas are present in various phylogenetic groups, and a large number of them remain highly conserved at the sequence level. microrna-mediated regulation depends on perfect matching between the seven nucleotid ... | 2012 | 22319171 |
| use of red ochre by early neandertals. | the use of manganese and iron oxides by late neandertals is well documented in europe, especially for the period 60-40 kya. such finds often have been interpreted as pigments even though their exact function is largely unknown. here we report significantly older iron oxide finds that constitute the earliest documented use of red ochre by neandertals. these finds were small concentrates of red material retrieved during excavations at maastricht-belvédère, the netherlands. the excavations exposed ... | 2012 | 22308348 |
| extension of cortical synaptic development distinguishes humans from chimpanzees and macaques. | over the course of ontogenesis, the human brain and human cognitive abilities develop in parallel, resulting in a phenotype strikingly distinct from that of other primates. here, we used microarrays and rna-sequencing to examine human-specific gene expression changes taking place during postnatal brain development in the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques. we show that the most prominent human-specific expression change affects genes associated with syna ... | 2012 | 22300767 |
| why levallois? a morphometric comparison of experimental 'preferential' levallois flakes versus debitage flakes. | middle palaeolithic stone artefacts referred to as 'levallois' have caused considerable debate regarding issues of technological predetermination, cognition and linguistic capacities in extinct hominins. their association with both neanderthals and early modern humans has, in particular, fuelled such debate. yet, controversy exists regarding the extent of 'predetermination' and 'standardization' in so-called 'preferential levallois flakes' (plfs). | 2012 | 22291888 |
| comment on "late mousterian persistence near the arctic circle". | slimak et al. (reports, 13 may 2011, p. 841) reanalyzed the lithic assemblage from the northern site of byzovaya (russia) and concluded that it was mousterian and produced by neandertals. the previous interpretation of this assemblage as falling within early upper paleolithic variability remains the most parsimonious explanation; pending additional fossil discoveries, there is no evidence supporting the occurrence of neandertals at these high latitudes. | 2012 | 22246757 |
| a uniquely modern human pattern of endocranial development. insights from a new cranial reconstruction of the neandertal newborn from mezmaiskaya. | the globular braincase of modern humans is distinct from all fossil human species, including our closest extinct relatives, the neandertals. such adult shape differences must ultimately be rooted in different developmental patterns, but it is unclear at which point during ontogeny these group characteristics emerge. here we compared internal shape changes of the braincase from birth to adulthood in neandertals (n = 10), modern humans (n = 62), and chimpanzees (n = 62). incomplete fossil specimen ... | 2012 | 22221766 |
| can we still hear the cro-magnon man? | this paper is an essay to connect with the stone age coastal hunters who sheltered 28,000 years ago in the caves of today's italian mediterranean sea shore cliffs. we have focused on the archaeological gravettian layer in the cavillon cave from grimaldi occupied by cro magnons (informal name for anatomically modern humans of the european upper paleolithic), which demonstrates the technical skills of the phase. cro magnons, like neanderthals, were seasonally nomadic; however, the diversity of the ... | 2012 | 23560760 |
| virtual neanderthals. | our closest hominid relatives may have died out 30,000 years before the arrival of the computer, but thanks to modern genomics and scanning technology, they are now very present in the 21st century and can even help us understand our own species. | 2011 | 22187730 |