Side steps: the erratic pattern of hominin postcranial change through time

@article{citeulike:2945097, abstract = {The hominin fossil record reveals brain-size expansion, canine reduction, premolar metaconid development, and numerous other craniodental features that become more human-like through time. In general, the postcranial skeleton also gets more human-like through time, but in some respects it does not. This is particularly apparent in the overall morphology of one of the most frequently preserved elements, the distal humerus. Some of the earliest hominins display quite human-like morphologies, whereas later specimens are quite unusual among extant species of Hominoidea: when described metrically and subjected to multivariate discriminant analyses in the context of large samples of extant hominoid humeri, the shapes of the earliest hominin fossils are more human-like than many of the later specimens. The Mahalanobis distances between many of the 1.5-2 Ma hominin humeri and Homo sapiens are remarkably large. Many of the less well-represented postcranial specimens do not follow a linear path through time of increasing hominization either. This is particularly noticeable in the fore-to-hind limb joint-size proportions, ulnar morphology, and pelvic architecture. The hominin postcranial fossil record reveals many side-steps: there appears to be no simple march toward our human bodies, but a pattern better explained as adaptations to proximate conditions and constrained by ontogeny and history.}, author = {Mchenry, Henry M. and Brown, Cassandra C. }, citeulike-article-id = {2945097}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.03.012}, journal = {Journal of Human Evolution}, keywords = {200806, afrique, evolution, paleontologie-humaine, squelette\_post-cranien}, posted-at = {2008-06-30 15:30:56}, priority = {2}, title = {Side steps: the erratic pattern of hominin postcranial change through time}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.03.012}, volume = {In Press, Corrected Proof} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2945097 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2945097 TI - Side steps: the erratic pattern of hominin postcranial change through time JF - Journal of Human Evolution VL - In Press, Corrected Proof N2 - The hominin fossil record reveals brain-size expansion, canine reduction, premolar metaconid development, and numerous other craniodental features that become more human-like through time. In general, the postcranial skeleton also gets more human-like through time, but in some respects it does not. This is particularly apparent in the overall morphology of one of the most frequently preserved elements, the distal humerus. Some of the earliest hominins display quite human-like morphologies, whereas later specimens are quite unusual among extant species of Hominoidea: when described metrically and subjected to multivariate discriminant analyses in the context of large samples of extant hominoid humeri, the shapes of the earliest hominin fossils are more human-like than many of the later specimens. The Mahalanobis distances between many of the 1.5-2 Ma hominin humeri and Homo sapiens are remarkably large. Many of the less well-represented postcranial specimens do not follow a linear path through time of increasing hominization either. This is particularly noticeable in the fore-to-hind limb joint-size proportions, ulnar morphology, and pelvic architecture. The hominin postcranial fossil record reveals many side-steps: there appears to be no simple march toward our human bodies, but a pattern better explained as adaptations to proximate conditions and constrained by ontogeny and history. KW - 200806 KW - afrique KW - evolution KW - paleontologie-humaine KW - squelette_post-cranien AU - Mchenry, Henry AU - Brown, Cassandra UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.03.012 ER -