Bermúdez de Castro J M, Rosas A, Carbonell E, Nicolás M E, Rodríguez J, Arsuaga J L
Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain) (CSIC), J. Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 Mar 30;96(7):4210-3. doi: 10.1073/pnas.96.7.4210.
The study of life history evolution in hominids is crucial for the discernment of when and why humans have acquired our unique maturational pattern. Because the development of dentition is critically integrated into the life cycle in mammals, the determination of the time and pattern of dental development represents an appropriate method to infer changes in life history variables that occurred during hominid evolution. Here we present evidence derived from Lower Pleistocene human fossil remains recovered from the TD6 level (Aurora stratum) of the Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, northern Spain. These hominids present a pattern of development similar to that of Homo sapiens, although some aspects (e.g., delayed M3 calcification) are not as derived as that of European populations and people of European origin. This evidence, taken together with the present knowledge of cranial capacity of these and other late Early Pleistocene hominids, supports the view that as early as 0.8 Ma at least one Homo species shared with modern humans a prolonged pattern of maturation.
对原始人类生活史演化的研究对于洞察人类何时以及为何形成独特的成熟模式至关重要。由于牙齿发育在哺乳动物的生命周期中紧密整合，确定牙齿发育的时间和模式是推断原始人类演化过程中生活史变量变化的合适方法。在此，我们展示了从西班牙北部阿塔普埃尔卡山脉格兰多利纳遗址TD6层（奥罗拉地层）发现的早更新世人类化石残骸中获得的证据。这些原始人类呈现出与智人类似的发育模式，尽管某些方面（如M3钙化延迟）并不像欧洲人群和欧洲裔人群那样先进。这一证据，结合目前对这些以及其他早更新世晚期原始人类脑容量的了解，支持了这样一种观点，即早在0.8百万年前，至少有一种原始人类就与现代人类共享了延长的成熟模式。
