Brewster Ciaraán, Meiklejohn Christopher, von Cramon-Taubadel Noreen, Pinhasi Ron
Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland.
Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 2E9.
Nat Commun. 2014 Jun 10;5:4094. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5094.
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) represents the most significant climatic event since the emergence of anatomically modern humans (AMH). In Europe, the LGM may have played a role in changing morphological features as a result of adaptive and stochastic processes. We use craniometric data to examine morphological diversity in pre- and post-LGM specimens. Craniometric variation is assessed across four periods--pre-LGM, late glacial, Early Holocene and Middle Holocene--using a large, well-dated, data set. Our results show significant differences across the four periods, using a MANOVA on size-adjusted cranial measurements. A discriminant function analysis shows separation between pre-LGM and later groups. Analyses repeated on a subsample, controlled for time and location, yield similar results. The results are largely influenced by facial measurements and are most consistent with neutral demographic processes. These findings suggest that the LGM had a major impact on AMH populations in Europe prior to the Neolithic.
末次盛冰期（LGM）是解剖学意义上的现代人（AMH）出现以来最重大的气候事件。在欧洲，末次盛冰期可能通过适应性和随机过程在改变形态特征方面发挥了作用。我们使用颅骨测量数据来研究末次盛冰期前后标本的形态多样性。使用一个大型、年代测定良好的数据集，在四个时期——末次盛冰期前、晚冰期、全新世早期和全新世中期——评估颅骨测量变异。我们的结果表明，使用对大小调整后的颅骨测量进行的多变量方差分析，四个时期之间存在显著差异。判别函数分析显示末次盛冰期前的群体与后期群体之间存在分离。在一个经过时间和地点控制的子样本上重复进行分析，得出了类似的结果。结果在很大程度上受面部测量的影响，并且与中性人口过程最为一致。这些发现表明，末次盛冰期对新石器时代之前欧洲的解剖学意义上的现代人群体产生了重大影响。
