Sinodonty, Sundadonty, and the Beringian Standstill model: Issues of timing and migrations into the New World

Comparative performance of deciduous and permanent dental morphology in detecting biological relatives

“…At the global scale, craniometric data have been compared against patterns of relatedness based on neutral genetic variation (Harvati & Weaver, ; Perez, Bernal, & Gonzalez, ; Reyes‐Centeno et al, ; Reyes‐Centeno, Ghirotto, & Harvati, ; Smith, ; Strauss & Hubbe, ; von Cramon‐Taubadel, ) with results generally affirming the value of craniometry (but see Roseman, ). Similar results have been obtained using dental data (e.g., Hanihara, ; Hanihara & Ishida, ; Scott et al, ), which provide broadly similar global patterns as neutral genetic variation. Through these studies it has become clear that the short window of dental development and lack of ontogenetic plasticity results in dentition offering a number of advantages over cranial variation as a data source in biodistance research.…”

“…Such work occurs at multiple scales, from the global, to the regional, to the intra‐site (Buikstra et al, ), each with distinct goals and emphases. Global scale analyses ascertain the history of our species and the evolutionary mechanisms that helped shape craniofacial variation during the peopling of the world (Relethford, ; Roseman & Weaver, ; Scott et al, ; von Cramon‐Taubadel, ; von Cramon‐Taubadel & Pinhasi, ). To the contrary, biodistance analyses at the regional‐ and site‐specific scales focus on archaeological questions and aim to reconstruct local patterns of gene flow, identify population boundaries, or infer biological relationships at the inter‐individual level (Alt, ; Alt & Vach, ; Buikstra, ; Buikstra et al, ; Konigsberg, ; Lane & Sublett, ; Stojanowski & Schillaci, ).…”

Three‐dimensional (3D) geometric morphometric analysis of human premolars to assess sexual dimorphism and biological ancestry in Australian populations

“…Hence, in‐depth GM assessment of upper premolars may elucidate further information regarding evolutionary changes of the human dentition. The findings will potentially complement information relating to the origin of modern humans (Tattersall, ; Tobler et al, ) and subsequent migratory patterns (Scott et al, ; Tattersall, ; Tobler et al, ).…”

Earliest Human Presence in North America Dated to the Last Glacial Maximum: New Radiocarbon Dates from Bluefish Caves, Canada

“…The exact timing of the initial dispersal remains uncertain, however. Recent genetic and palaeogenetic analyses [3–10], as well as dental morphological evidence [11], confirm that human populations migrating into North America originated in Siberia. They also suggest that dispersing groups reached Beringia during the LGM (dated to ca.…”

“…They also suggest that dispersing groups reached Beringia during the LGM (dated to ca. 18,000–24,000 cal BP) where they were genetically isolated for up to 8,000 years before moving south of the ice-sheets into North America [3–11]. Unfortunately, archaeological support for the standstill hypothesis is scarce [12].…”