Dept. of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Dept. of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
J Hum Evol. 2020 Apr;141:102746. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102746. Epub 2020 Mar 9.
Entheses have rarely been systematically studied in the field of human evolution. However, the investigation of their morphological variability (e.g., robusticity) could provide new insight into their evolutionary significance in the European Neanderthal populations. The aim of this work is to study the entheses and joint features of the lower limbs of El Sidrón Neanderthals (Spain; 49 ka), using standardized scoring methods developed on modern samples. Paleobiology, growth, and development of both juveniles and adults from El Sidrón are studied and compared with those of Krapina Neanderthals (Croatia, 130 ka) and extant humans. The morphological patterns of the gluteus maximus and vastus intermedius entheses in El Sidrón, Krapina, and modern humans differ from one another. Both Neanderthal groups show a definite enthesis design for the gluteus maximus, with little intrapopulation variability with respect to modern humans, who are characterized by a wider range of morphological variability. The gluteus maximus enthesis in the El Sidrón sample shows the osseous features of fibrous entheses, as in modern humans, whereas the Krapina sample shows the aspects of fibrocartilaginous ones. The morphology and anatomical pattern of this enthesis has already been established during growth in all three human groups. One of two and three of five adult femurs from El Sidrón and from Krapina, respectively, show the imprint of the vastus intermedius, which is absent among juveniles from those Neanderthal samples and in modern samples. The scant intrapopulation and the high interpopulation variability in the two Neanderthal samples is likely due to a long-term history of small, isolated populations with high levels of inbreeding, who also lived in different ecological conditions. The comparison of different anatomical entheseal patterns (fibrous vs. fibrocartilaginous) in the Neanderthals and modern humans provides additional elements in the discussion of their functional and genetic origin.
在人类进化领域，肌腱附著点很少被系统地研究。然而，对其形态变异性（例如粗壮程度）的研究可能为它们在欧洲尼安德特人群中的进化意义提供新的见解。本研究的目的是使用基于现代样本开发的标准化评分方法，研究 El Sidrón 尼安德特人（西班牙；49 千年前）下肢的肌腱附著点和关节特征。对 El Sidrón 的青少年和成年人的古生物学、生长和发育进行了研究，并与 Krapina 尼安德特人（克罗地亚，130 千年前）和现代人类进行了比较。El Sidrón、Krapina 和现代人类的臀大肌和中间肌肌腱附著点的形态模式彼此不同。两个尼安德特人群的臀大肌都有明确的肌腱附著点设计，与现代人类相比，其内部种群变异性较小，而现代人类的形态变异性范围更广。El Sidrón 样本中的臀大肌肌腱附著点表现出与现代人相似的纤维性肌腱附著点的骨骼特征，而 Krapina 样本则表现出纤维软骨性的特征。在这三个人类群体中，在生长过程中已经形成了这种肌腱附著点的形态和解剖模式。El Sidrón 和 Krapina 的成年股骨中，分别有 1/2 和 3/5 有中间肌的痕迹，而青少年样本中没有，现代样本中也没有。两个尼安德特人群中个体间的高度变异性和种群内的低变异性可能是由于长期以来人口规模小、孤立、近亲繁殖程度高，同时生活在不同的生态条件下造成的。在尼安德特人和现代人中比较不同的解剖肌腱附著点（纤维性与纤维软骨性）模式，为讨论它们的功能和遗传起源提供了额外的元素。
