TY - JOUR
T1 - Do modern humans and Neandertals have different patterns of cranial integration?
AU - Roseman, Charles C.
AU - Weaver, Timothy D.
AU - Stringer, Christopher B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Jim Cheverud, David Begun, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments, and all those who facilitated access for the collection of data on the fossil material. The Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign provided funding for this research. Chris Stringer is a member of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. We also recognize the late W.W. Howells for his fundamentally important contribution to our field and his generosity in sharing it so freely.
Copyright:
Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2011/6
Y1 - 2011/6
N2 - Studies of cranial differences between modern humans and Neandertals have identified several characteristics for which the two groups differ in their mean values, the proportional relationships with other traits, or both. However, the limited number of fairly complete Neandertals has hindered investigations into patterns of integration - covariance and correlation among traits - in this fossil group. Here, we use multiple approaches specifically designed to deal with fragmentary fossils to test if metric cranial traits in Neandertals fit modern human patterns of integration. Based on 37 traits collected from a sample of 2524 modern humans from Howells' data set and 20 Neandertals, we show that overall patterns of cranial integration are significantly different between Neandertals and modern humans. However, at the same time, Neandertals are consistent with a modern human pattern of integration for more than three-quarters of the traits. Additionally, the differences between the predicted and actual values for the deviating traits are rather small, indicating that the differences in integration are subtle. Traits for which Neandertals deviate from modern human integration patterns tend to be found in regions where Neandertals and modern humans are known to also differ in their mean values. We conclude that the evolution of patterns of cranial integration is a cause for caution but also presents an opportunity for understanding cranial differences between modern humans and Neandertals.
AB - Studies of cranial differences between modern humans and Neandertals have identified several characteristics for which the two groups differ in their mean values, the proportional relationships with other traits, or both. However, the limited number of fairly complete Neandertals has hindered investigations into patterns of integration - covariance and correlation among traits - in this fossil group. Here, we use multiple approaches specifically designed to deal with fragmentary fossils to test if metric cranial traits in Neandertals fit modern human patterns of integration. Based on 37 traits collected from a sample of 2524 modern humans from Howells' data set and 20 Neandertals, we show that overall patterns of cranial integration are significantly different between Neandertals and modern humans. However, at the same time, Neandertals are consistent with a modern human pattern of integration for more than three-quarters of the traits. Additionally, the differences between the predicted and actual values for the deviating traits are rather small, indicating that the differences in integration are subtle. Traits for which Neandertals deviate from modern human integration patterns tend to be found in regions where Neandertals and modern humans are known to also differ in their mean values. We conclude that the evolution of patterns of cranial integration is a cause for caution but also presents an opportunity for understanding cranial differences between modern humans and Neandertals.
KW - Cranium
KW - Neandertal, modern human
KW - Phenotypic integration
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.04.010
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.04.010
M3 - Article
C2 - 21463884
AN - SCOPUS:79955470046
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 60
SP - 684
EP - 693
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
IS - 6
ER -