Antón S C, Weinstein K J
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611, USA.
J Hum Evol. 1999 Feb;36(2):195-209. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1998.0266.
Based on cranial characters shared by Homo erectus in Java and Homo sapiens in Australia, Australasia is widely considered the strongest case for a regional origin of modern humans. However, artificial vault deformation has been suggested to be the cause of "archaic" characters such as frontal recession in key fossil Australian crania. We use log-log plots of cranial arc versus chord measurements and we score nonmetric traits often thought to be associated with artificial deformation to make systematic comparisons across groups and deformation types to identify universal consequences of artificial deformation. Based on our large comparative sample (n = 588) apparatus-deformed crania have flatter frontals and occipitals and usually more angulated parietals in the sagittal plane than undeformed crania, regardless of deformation type. Fossil Australian samples exhibit evidence of both undeformed and deformed individuals. The sample from Coobool Creek provides evidence that undeformed individuals had more rounded frontals than recent Australians. However, many individuals from Coobool Creek, Kow Swamp, and Nacurrie exhibit modification of one or more cranial contours. The Kow Swamp individuals in particular plot with deformed crania from all regions. In addition, the frequency of hyperostotic traits such as bregmatic eminence, metopic and sagittal keels in H. sapiens is influenced by both artificial deformation and pathological hypervascularity/hyperostosis. Thus it is unwise to use cranial contours and these nonmetric traits to infer genetic relatedness between Fossil Australians and Indonesian H. erectus.
基于爪哇直立人与澳大利亚智人共有的颅骨特征，澳大拉西亚被广泛认为是现代人类区域起源最有力的例证。然而，有人提出人工颅顶变形是澳大利亚关键化石颅骨出现诸如额部后缩等“古老”特征的原因。我们使用颅骨弧与弦测量的对数-对数图，并对通常被认为与人工变形有关的非计量性状进行评分，以便对不同群体和变形类型进行系统比较，从而确定人工变形的普遍影响。基于我们庞大的比较样本（n = 588），无论变形类型如何，经器具变形的颅骨与未变形的颅骨相比，其额部和枕部更扁平，矢状面的顶骨通常更有棱角。澳大利亚化石样本显示出未变形和变形个体的证据。库布尔溪的样本表明，未变形个体的额部比现代澳大利亚人更圆润。然而，来自库布尔溪、科沼泽和纳库里的许多个体都表现出一个或多个颅骨轮廓的改变。尤其是科沼泽的个体与所有地区经变形的颅骨分布在一起。此外，智人中诸如前囟隆起、额缝和矢状嵴等高骨化性状的频率受人工变形和病理性血管增生/骨化的影响。因此，利用颅骨轮廓和这些非计量性状来推断澳大利亚化石与印度尼西亚直立人之间的遗传关系是不明智的。
