Ecology of Tool Use in Wild Chimpanzees: Toward Reconstruction of Early Hominid Evolution

2008 ◽  
pp. 537-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gen Yamakoshi
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Early Hominid

Tooth size and shape and their relevance to studies of hominid evolution

1981 ◽  
Vol 292 (1057) ◽  
pp. 65-76 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Tooth Size ◽  
Taxonomic Significance ◽  
Early Hominid ◽  
Australopithecus Africanus ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Crown Shape ◽  
Morphological Differences

Teeth have the potential to provide evidence about both the patterns of diversity of fossil hominids and the functional adaptations of early hominid taxa. Comparative studies of dental function and the direct examination of wear patterns in fossil teeth are now providing data for testing hypotheses that major differences in dietary adaptations underlie lineage diversity in the early hominids. However, this review focuses on the contributions that dental evidence can make to hominid systematic studies. Attention is drawn to the value of tooth enamel as a morphological marker and the major contribution that teeth make to the hominid fossil sample. Systematic analysis of hominid remains must start with the identification of patterns of morphological variation. Only then can the taxonomic significance of the morphological differences be assessed and attempts made to link designated taxa in a phylogenetic scheme. The preliminary results of a detailed metrical survey of early hominid premolar and molar teeth are presented. As part of this study cusp areas of first mandibular molars were measured by planimetry. Analysis of these data, without any prior assumptions about taxonomic groups, has demonstrated that the major axis of variation separates the pooled sample into morphological subgroups. These methods provide a systematic and rigorous way of identifying patterns of tooth crown morphology and will allow a more objective assessment of the affinities of individual specimens. Fossil taxa are described in terms of both absolute and relative tooth size. If canine base area and molar crown area are considered there is considerable overlap between Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus ( paranthropus) robustus whereas there is little or no overlap between the ranges of Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus (Parnthopus) boisei . Differences in relative tooth size among fossil taxa are taken as an example of how to attack the problem of assessing the taxonomic significance of morphological differences. Analogues from modern primates are used to derive tooth-body size relations for three relative growth models. The results suggest that increases in body size are usually accompanied by a more rapid rate of increase in canine size than in molar size. This suggests that the relatively smaller canines of the ‘robust’ australopithecines are not the result of simple scaling, but represent the result of selection against an allometric trend. Preliminary results of a survey of the subocclusal morphology of fossil teeth are presented to indicate the potential of radiographic studies and to demonstrate that changes in root morphology can be correlated with crown shape and relative size.

Electromyographic Studies of the Human Foot: Experimental Approaches to Hominid Evolution

Foot & Ankle ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 391-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori A. Reeser ◽  
Randall L. Susman ◽  
Jack T. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Abductor Hallucis ◽  
Early Hominid ◽  
Human Foot ◽  
Flexor Digitorum Brevis ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Arch Support ◽  
Flexor Digitorum ◽  
Hominid Fossils ◽  
Electromyographic Investigation

Theories about the functions of the foot muscles have centered on their role in arch support. Previous anatomical and electromyographic studies (reviewed herein) have demonstrated that the arches are normally maintained by bones and ligaments. This study reports an electromyographic investigation of five foot muscles (flexor digito-rum longus, flexor digitorum brevis, flexor accessorius, abductor hallucis, and abductor digiti quinti) conducted on four humans. The three toe flexors act together to resist extension of the toes during the stance phase of locomotion. Despite the large flexor accessorius in humans, neither this muscle nor the flexor digitorum brevis are preferentially recruited over the flexor digitorum lon-gus for any normal posture or locomotion. The abductors affect the mediolateral distribution of pressure by positioning the forefoot. We suggest that the foot muscles play an important role in positioning of the forces on the foot in both posture and locomotion. Future electromyographic experiments on human and ape foot muscles in conjunction with detailed studies of early hominid fossils promise to elucidate the pathways of human locomotor evolution.

Fossil evidence for early hominid tool use

Science ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 265 (5178) ◽  
pp. 1570-1573 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Susman
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Early Hominid ◽  
Fossil Evidence

scholarly journals Aural exostoses (surfer’s ear) provide vital fossil evidence of an aquatic phase in Man’s early evolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 99 (8) ◽  
pp. 594-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
PH Rhys Evans ◽  
M Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Cold Water ◽  
Water Immersion ◽  
Cold Water Immersion ◽  
Senior Author ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Ear Canal ◽  
Early Hominid ◽  
And Function ◽  
Evolutionary Point

For over a century, otolaryngologists have recognised the condition of aural exostoses, but their significance and aetiology remains obscure, although they tend to be associated with frequent swimming and cold water immersion of the auditory canal. The fact that this condition is usually bilateral is predictable since both ears are immersed in water. However, why do exostoses only grow in swimmers and why do they grow in the deep bony meatus at two or three constant sites? Furthermore, from an evolutionary point of view, what is or was the purpose and function of these rather incongruous protrusions? In recent decades, paleoanthropological evidence has challenged ideas about early hominid evolution. In 1992 the senior author suggested that aural exostoses were evolved in early hominid Man for protection of the delicate tympanic membrane during swimming and diving by narrowing the ear canal in a similar fashion to other semiaquatic species. We now provide evidence for this theory and propose an aetiological explanation for the formation of exostoses.

Biogeographic and climatic basis for a narrative of early hominid evolution

1995 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy G. Bromage ◽  
Friedemann Schrenk
Keyword(s):  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Early Hominid

Man's immediate forerunners: Establishing a relevant time scale in anthropological and archaeological research

1981 ◽  
Vol 292 (1057) ◽  
pp. 7-20 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Time Scale ◽  
Present Status ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Early Hominid ◽  
Dating Methods ◽  
Chemical Dating ◽  
Physical And Chemical

From time to time, it is desirable to review a given field of research, its methods and accomplishments, and see what further advances in that field may be anticipated. Toward this end, physical and chemical dating methods applicable to anthropological and archaeological problems are reviewed and discussed here, particularly recent innovations, followed by a discussion of the present status of established calibration points in early hominid evolution.

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