Pearson O M
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M. 87131-1086, USA.
Curr Anthropol. 2000 Aug-Oct;41(4):569-607.
Postcranial robusticity--the massiveness of the skeleton--figures prominently in the debate over the origin of modern humans. Anthropologists use postcranial robusticity to infer the activity levels of prehistoric populations, and changes in robusticity are often used to support scenarios of adaptive change. These scenarios explain differences in morphology as the result of a change in lifestyle (habitual activity). One common scenario posits that early modern humans were more gracile than Neandertals because the modern humans' complex culture required less physical exertion. However, lifestyle is only one of many influences on morphology. Climate has clear correlations with physique and skeletal proportions. Analysis of recent humans that differ in terms of lifestyle and climatic adaptations reveals that limb bone robusticity varies with climate as much as or more than with lifestyle. Many of the differences in robusticity between Neandertals and early modern humans appear to be related to climatic adaptations. The results support the single-recent origin model of modern human origins. The differences in robusticity between Neandertals and early modern humans suggest that population replacement rather than local evolution best explains the emergence of modern humans in Europe. Both climatic adaptations (primarily body proportions) and lifestyle should be considered in analyses of robusticity.
颅后粗壮度——骨骼的粗壮程度——在关于现代人类起源的争论中占据显著地位。人类学家利用颅后粗壮度来推断史前人群的活动水平，而粗壮度的变化常被用来支持适应性变化的设想。这些设想将形态差异解释为生活方式（习惯性活动）变化的结果。一种常见的设想认为，早期现代人类比尼安德特人更为纤细，因为现代人类复杂的文化所需的体力消耗较少。然而，生活方式只是影响形态的众多因素之一。气候与体格和骨骼比例有着明确的关联。对生活方式和气候适应性不同的现代人类进行分析发现，四肢骨骼的粗壮度随气候的变化与随生活方式的变化一样大甚至更大。尼安德特人和早期现代人类在粗壮度上的许多差异似乎都与气候适应性有关。这些结果支持了现代人类起源的近期单一起源模型。尼安德特人和早期现代人类在粗壮度上的差异表明，人口替代而非本地进化最能解释欧洲现代人类的出现。在分析粗壮度时，应同时考虑气候适应性（主要是身体比例）和生活方式。
