Review: The different adaptive trajectories in Neanderthals and Homo sapiens and their implications for contemporary human physiological variation

Pomeroy, Emma

doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2023.111420

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 136 publications

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“…Furthermore, as stated by Sawyer and Maley ( 2005 ), ribcage reconstructions are subjective as long as they do not follow any protocol developed for that purpose. Given the important role played by the ribcage concerning hominin breathing kinematics, body proportions and locomotion (Bastir et al., 2020 ; Gea, 2008 ; Gómez‐Olivencia et al., 2018 ; Latimer et al., 2016 ; Pomeroy, 2023 ; Torres‐Tamayo et al., 2018 ), the aim of this article is to describe a standardized method for making a digital reconstruction of the modern human ribcage from commingled costo‐vertebral remains, thus minimizing the artistic license observed in previous publications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to make a digital reconstruction of the human ribcage

López‐Rey,

García‐Martínez,

Bastir

2024

Journal of Anatomy

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Up to now, there have been no publication standardizing the digital reconstruction of the modern human ribcage from commingled costo‐vertebral material. Consequently, we designed a validated protocol based on anatomical features observed in the literature and the CT scanned ribcages of 10 adult European individuals. After quantifying the shape of these ribcages using 3D geometric morphometrics, we split each vertebra and rib within their corresponding (semi)landmarks. Subsequently, individual bones + (semi)landmarks were imported to LhpFusionBox, commingled and 3D reconstructed. To validate the accuracy of the protocol, we first reconstructed a randomly chosen ribcage three times and then compared these reconstructions to the rest of the sample. Since these reconstructions were closer to their original counterpart than to the others, the remaining sample was reconstructed once. Next, we tested the intra‐observer error during reconstructing using the Procrustes distances among the original ribcages and the reconstructions. We observed that first each ribcage reconstruction was clustered to its original counterpart and second there was a learning curve showing an improvement in the reconstruction process over time. Subsequently, we explored general size and shape differences among the original and reconstructed ribcages through a study of centroid size and a permutation test on the Procrustes distances (10,000 permutations), respectively. Specific shape differences between both groups were further examined through a principal component analysis in shape space. None of these analyses found statistical differences between the original and reconstructed ribcages (p > 0.05). Eventually, we extracted the mean shapes of the original ribcages and the reconstructions in order to visualize potential deviations caused by the anatomical considerations of the researcher. These results demonstrate that the protocol is accurate enough to be used when reconstructing a disarticulated human ribcage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to make a digital reconstruction of the human ribcage

López‐Rey,

García‐Martínez,

Bastir

2024

Journal of Anatomy

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Estimating intralimb proportions for commingled remains

Cao,

Crema,

Pomeroy

2024

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Intralimb proportions provide insights into growth, development, populations history, and adaptation across human groups. However, the conventional approach of calculating brachial and crural indices for individual skeletons and comparing assemblages using sample means is not feasible in commingled remains. This study aims to assess the reliability of an “aggregate method” based on the ratio of sample means of limb bone lengths as an alternative to conventionally calculated indices. We examined the correlation between the aggregate and conventional indices using data from ≥124 worldwide groups (≥2000 adults). The impact of sample size, commingling degree, and within‐group variation on the correspondence between conventional and aggregate indices was further evaluated using simulated datasets. Reliability was measured using the absolute differences between the aggregate and “true” population mean indices and the proportion of simulations producing large errors (>0.02, the average within‐group variation among observed populations). Strong correlations are observed between the aggregate and conventional indices across groups in the empirical dataset. Simulation analyses indicates that larger samples improve prediction reliability, while increased commingling and within‐group variation reduce accuracy. The aggregate method is robust when upper limb samples contain >30 bones (lower limb >50), with more than half of the bones representing proximal and distal elements from the same individuals, and the standard deviation in the index is smaller than 0.02. With sufficient sample sizes, the “aggregate method” is a reliable alternative for estimating average intralimb proportions in commingled and poorly preserved skeletal assemblages, enhancing the research potential of such collections.

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Vegetation Dynamics and Megaherbivore Presence of MIS 3 Stadials and Interstadials 10–8 Obtained from a Sediment Core from Auel Infilled Maar, Eifel, Germany

Britzius

Sirocko

2023

Quaternary

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We present a record of pollen and spores of coprophilous fungi from a sediment core from Auel infilled maar, Eifel, Germany, covering the period from 42,000 to 36,000 yr b2k. We can show that vegetation cover was dominated by a boreal forest with components of steppe and cold-temperate wood taxa. The proportion of wood taxa was higher during interstadials, whereas steppe-vegetation became more prominent during stadials. During Heinrich stadial 4, temperate taxa are mostly absent. Spores of coprophilous fungi show that megaherbivores were continuously present, albeit in a larger number during stadials when steppe environment with abundant steppe herbs expanded. With the onset of Greenland stadial 9, forests became more open, allowing for steppe-environment to evolve. The shift in vegetation cover coincides with the highest values of herbivore biomass at the time that Neanderthal humans demised and Anatomically Modern Humans most probably arrived in Central and Western Europe. Megaherbivore biomass was a direct consequence of vegetation cover/availability of food resources and thus an indirect consequence of a changing climate. Herds of large herbivores following suitable (steppe) habitats may have been one cause of the migration of AMH into Europe, going along with their prey to productive hunting grounds.

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Review: The different adaptive trajectories in Neanderthals and Homo sapiens and their implications for contemporary human physiological variation

Cited by 3 publications

References 136 publications

How to make a digital reconstruction of the human ribcage

How to make a digital reconstruction of the human ribcage

Estimating intralimb proportions for commingled remains

Vegetation Dynamics and Megaherbivore Presence of MIS 3 Stadials and Interstadials 10–8 Obtained from a Sediment Core from Auel Infilled Maar, Eifel, Germany

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