scholarly journals First systematic assessment of dental growth and development in an archaic hominin (genus,Homo) from East Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. eaau0930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Xing ◽  
Paul Tafforeau ◽  
Mackie O’Hara ◽  
Mario Modesto-Mata ◽  
Laura Martín-Francés ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Dental Development ◽  
Systematic Assessment ◽  
Genus Homo ◽  
Human Morphology ◽  
Crown Formation ◽  
Dental Traits

Several human dental traits typical of modern humans appear to be associated with the prolonged period of development that is a key human attribute. Understanding when, and in which early hominins, these dental traits first appeared is thus of strong interest. Using x-ray multiresolution synchrotron phase-contrast microtomography, we quantify dental growth and development in an archaicHomojuvenile from the Xujiayao site in northern China dating to 161,000–224,000 years or 104,000–125,000 years before present. Despite the archaic morphology of Xujiayao hominins, most aspects of dental development of this juvenile fall within modern human ranges (e.g., prolonged crown formation time and delayed first molar eruption). For its estimated age-at-death (6.5 years), its state of dental development is comparable to that of equivalently aged modern children. These findings suggest that several facets of modern human dental growth and development evolved in East Asia before the appearance of fully modern human morphology.

scholarly journals Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry

Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 592 (7853) ◽  
pp. 253-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateja Hajdinjak ◽  
Fabrizio Mafessoni ◽  
Laurits Skov ◽  
Benjamin Vernot ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data

AbstractModern humans appeared in Europe by at least 45,000 years ago1–5, but the extent of their interactions with Neanderthals, who disappeared by about 40,000 years ago6, and their relationship to the broader expansion of modern humans outside Africa are poorly understood. Here we present genome-wide data from three individuals dated to between 45,930 and 42,580 years ago from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria1,2. They are the earliest Late Pleistocene modern humans known to have been recovered in Europe so far, and were found in association with an Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefact assemblage. Unlike two previously studied individuals of similar ages from Romania7 and Siberia8 who did not contribute detectably to later populations, these individuals are more closely related to present-day and ancient populations in East Asia and the Americas than to later west Eurasian populations. This indicates that they belonged to a modern human migration into Europe that was not previously known from the genetic record, and provides evidence that there was at least some continuity between the earliest modern humans in Europe and later people in Eurasia. Moreover, we find that all three individuals had Neanderthal ancestors a few generations back in their family history, confirming that the first European modern humans mixed with Neanderthals and suggesting that such mixing could have been common.

Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo (review)

Human Biology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 528-532
Author(s):  
Janet M. Monge
Keyword(s):  
Growth And Development ◽  
Genus Homo

scholarly journals Testing the utility of dental morphological trait combinations for inferring human neutral genetic variation

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (20) ◽  
pp. 10769-10777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannes Rathmann ◽  
Hugo Reyes-Centeno
Keyword(s):  
Modern Human ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Dental Morphology ◽  
Genomic Signatures ◽  
Neutral Genetic Variation ◽  
Tooth Form ◽  
Dental Traits ◽  
Population Affinity

Researchers commonly rely on human dental morphological features in order to reconstruct genetic affinities among past individuals and populations, particularly since teeth are often the best preserved part of a human skeleton. Tooth form is considered to be highly heritable and selectively neutral and, therefore, to be an excellent proxy for DNA when none is available. However, until today, it remains poorly understood whether certain dental traits or trait combinations preserve neutral genomic signatures to a greater degree than others. Here, we address this long-standing research gap by systematically testing the utility of 27 common dental traits and >134 million possible trait combinations in reflecting neutral genomic variation in a worldwide sample of modern human populations. Our analyses reveal that not all traits are equally well-suited for reconstructing population affinities. Whereas some traits largely reflect neutral variation and therefore evolved primarily as a result of genetic drift, others can be linked to nonstochastic processes such as natural selection or hominin admixture. We also demonstrate that reconstructions of population affinity based on many traits are not necessarily more reliable than those based on only a few traits. Importantly, we find a set of highly diagnostic trait combinations that preserve neutral genetic signals best (up to x∼r = 0.580; 95% r range = 0.293 to 0.758; P = 0.001). We propose that these trait combinations should be prioritized in future research, as they allow for more accurate inferences about past human population dynamics when using dental morphology as a proxy for DNA.

scholarly journals Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (20) ◽  
pp. 9820-9824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiu-Jie Wu ◽  
Shu-Wen Pei ◽  
Yan-Jun Cai ◽  
Hao-Wen Tong ◽  
Qiang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Third Molars ◽  
Human Morphology ◽  
Nasal Floor ◽  
Medial Pterygoid ◽  
Early Late

Middle to Late Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia has remained controversial regarding the extent of morphological continuity through archaic humans and to modern humans. Newly found ∼300,000-y-old human remains from Hualongdong (HLD), China, including a largely complete skull (HLD 6), share East Asian Middle Pleistocene (MPl) human traits of a low vault with a frontal keel (but no parietal sagittal keel or angular torus), a low and wide nasal aperture, a pronounced supraorbital torus (especially medially), a nonlevel nasal floor, and small or absent third molars. It lacks a malar incisure but has a large superior medial pterygoid tubercle. HLD 6 also exhibits a relatively flat superior face, a more vertical mandibular symphysis, a pronounced mental trigone, and simple occlusal morphology, foreshadowing modern human morphology. The HLD human fossils thus variably resemble other later MPl East Asian remains, but add to the overall variation in the sample. Their configurations, with those of other Middle and early Late Pleistocene East Asian remains, support archaic human regional continuity and provide a background to the subsequent archaic-to-modern human transition in the region.

Transboundary Extreme Ultrafine Dust Events in East Asia under a Warmer Monsoon Climate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwangyong Choi
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Cold Season ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
Monsoon Climate ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽  
Dust Events

<p>Since the late 20th century East Asia has frequently experienced unprecedented transboundary extreme ultrafine dust events (TEUDEs) due to a fast economic development based on significant amount of fossil fuel consumption. In this study, spatio-temporal patterns of the TEUDEs in East Asia and the roles of synoptic climate patterns and changing large-scale atmospheric circulation systems in exacerbating the anthropogenic atmospheric pollution events causing considerable human deaths are examined. Analyses of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra aerosol optical depth (AOD) data (2000-2019) clearly show that the pollutants are produced mainly in northern China and move toward central Korea and southern Japanese islands during cold seasons when coals consumption soars for heating. Synoptic climatic maps drawn from the NCEP-NCAR I reanalysis data for multiple TEUDEs demonstrate that a north clockwise- south anticlockwise wind vector anomaly pattern in cold seasons formed by less southward meandering of Siberian High pressure (SH) helps the stagnation of significant amount of ultrafine dusts over East Asia. It is also notable that the long-term poleward retreating trend of cold season circumpolar vortex, which is associated with less frequent gusty wind flow from the SH, may provide a favorable condition for intense, long-lasting TEUDEs across East Asia under a warmer monsoon climate.</p>

scholarly journals Nine-year spatial and temporal evolution of desert dust aerosols over South and East Asia as revealed by CALIOP

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1337-1362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanouil Proestakis ◽  
Vassilis Amiridis ◽  
Eleni Marinou ◽  
Aristeidis K. Georgoulias ◽  
Stavros Solomos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Dust Aerosol ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Transport Pathways ◽  
Desert Dust ◽  
Dust Aerosols

Abstract. We present a 3-D climatology of the desert dust distribution over South and East Asia derived using CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) data. To distinguish desert dust from total aerosol load we apply a methodology developed in the framework of EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network). The method involves the use of the particle linear depolarization ratio and updated lidar ratio values suitable for Asian dust, applied to multiyear CALIPSO observations (January 2007–December 2015). The resulting dust product provides information on the horizontal and vertical distribution of dust aerosols over South and East Asia along with the seasonal transition of dust transport pathways. Persistent high D_AOD (dust aerosol optical depth) values at 532 nm, of the order of 0.6, are present over the arid and semi-arid desert regions. Dust aerosol transport (range, height and intensity) is subject to high seasonality, with the highest values observed during spring for northern China (Taklimakan and Gobi deserts) and during summer over the Indian subcontinent (Thar Desert). Additionally, we decompose the CALIPSO AOD (aerosol optical depth) into dust and non-dust aerosol components to reveal the non-dust AOD over the highly industrialized and densely populated regions of South and East Asia, where the non-dust aerosols yield AOD values of the order of 0.5. Furthermore, the CALIPSO-based short-term AOD and D_AOD time series and trends between January 2007 and December 2015 are calculated over South and East Asia and over selected subregions. Positive trends are observed over northwest and east China and the Indian subcontinent, whereas over southeast China trends are mostly negative. The calculated AOD trends agree well with the trends derived from Aqua MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), although significant differences are observed over specific regions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document