Dental topography and human evolution with comments on the diets of Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus

Limb proportions and positional behavior

Hominin Postcranial Remains from Sterkfontein, South Africa, 1936-1995 ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197507667.003.0017 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 321-334

Author(s):

Adam D. Gordon ◽

David J. Green ◽

William L. Jungers ◽

Brian G. Richmond

Keyword(s):

Human Evolution ◽

Pan Troglodytes ◽

Body Shape ◽

Great Apes ◽

Positional Behavior ◽

Prior Work ◽

Australopithecus Africanus ◽

Western Gorillas ◽

Locomotor Behaviors ◽

Limb Proportions

Major changes in body shape occurred during human evolution, but questions remain about body shape in australopiths. The present study investigates the specifics of the presumed relationships between limb indices and positional behavior underlying prior work that compared proportions among extant hominids in order to make inferences about extinct hominins. We find that although both intermembral index or ratio of diaphyseal and articular proportions distinguish humans from great apes, neigher correlates well with variation in the degree of arboreality in the locomotor repertoire of extant hominids. Brachial index and a ratio of diaphyseal and articular dimensions from the fore- and hindlimb, however, do correlate with degree of arboreality, and scale slightly positively allometrically within species in all extant taxa. These two observations are taken into consideration in a more nuanced interpretation of a reanalysis of articular-diaphyseal limb proportions in an expanded sample of the Sterkfontein postcrania. This study confirms previous findings that Australopithecus africanus had larger forelimb dimensions in relation to hindlimb dimensions than modern humans and A. afarensis, similar to the patterns seen in extant apes, particularly western gorillas. However, data presented here suggest that interpreting a particular taxon as “human-like” or “ape-like” may be overly simplistic. Instead, while both A. africanus and A. afarensis were almost certainly committed bipeds that incorporated some arboreality into their locomotor repertoire, A. africanus apparently used a set of locomotor behaviors that was more distinct from that of A. afarensis than Pan troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla are from each other.

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Hominin Postcranial Remains from Sterkfontein, South Africa, 1936-1995

10.1093/oso/9780197507667.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Evolution ◽

International Workshop ◽

Gauteng Province ◽

Australopithecus Africanus ◽

Postcranial Remains ◽

Early Hominin ◽

To Come ◽

Answering Questions ◽

Early Human

The excavations at Sterkfontein Cave, Gauteng Province, South Africa, have yielded one of the largest collections of postcranial fossils of any hominin site. These fossils remain relatively unstudied, and few published comprehensively, despite the enormous potential of these fossils for answering questions about Australopithecus africanus paleobiology, early hominin variation, and early human evolution. This volume presents photographs, anatomical descriptions and analyses for all Sterkfontein hominin postcranial fossils that were available for study in 2009, when an international workshop of experts was convened at University of the Witwatersrand to discuss and study this material. The chapters in this volume represent a foundation for further investigations with which to interpret these and other fossils from Sterkfontein, and from all over Africa, that will be recovered in years to come.

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Dental caries in human evolution: frequency of carious lesions in South African fossil hominins

10.1101/597385 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ian Towle ◽

Joel D. Irish ◽

Isabelle De Groote ◽

Christianne Fernée

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Human Evolution ◽

Deciduous Teeth ◽

Posterior Teeth ◽

Australopithecus Africanus ◽

Early Homo ◽

Carious Lesions ◽

Fossil Hominins ◽

Specialized Diet ◽

Fossil Hominin

AbstractCaries frequencies in South African fossil hominins were observed and compared with other hominin samples. Species studied includeParanthropus robustus,Homo naledi,Australopithecus africanus,early HomoandA. sediba. Teeth were viewed macroscopically with Micro-CT scans used to confirm lesions. Position and severity of each lesion were also noted and described. For all South African fossil hominin specimens studied, 16 have carious lesions, six of which are described for the first time in this study. These are from a minimum of six individuals, and include fourP. robustus,oneH. naledi,and oneearly Homoindividual. No carious lesions were found on deciduous teeth, or any teeth assigned toA. africanus. Most are located interproximal, and only posterior teeth are affected. Caries frequency typically ranges between 1-5% of teeth in non-agricultural human samples, and this pattern seemingly holds true for at least the past two million years in the hominin lineage. Non-agricultural populations significantly above or below this threshold generally have a specialized diet, supporting other dietary evidence thatA. africanuslikely consumed large amounts of tough, non-cariogenic vegetation. Given the common occurrence of caries in the other hominin species, cariogenic bacteria and foods were evidently common in their collective oral environment. Along with recent research highlighting additional examples of caries inH. neanderthalensis, earlyHomoand PleistoceneH. sapiens, caries is clearly an ancient disease that was much more common than once maintained throughout the course of human evolution.

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