DFG Center for Advanced Studies: 'Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: Tracking Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Trajectories of the Human Past', Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, D-72070, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
DFG Center for Advanced Studies: 'Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: Tracking Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Trajectories of the Human Past', Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, D-72070, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40506, USA; William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40504, USA.
J Hum Evol. 2020 Aug;145:102815. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102815. Epub 2020 Jun 21.
Despite a steady increase in our understanding of the phenotypic variation of Pleistocene Homo, debate continues over phylogenetically informative features. One such trait is the suprainiac fossa, a depression on the occipital bone above inion that is commonly considered an autapomorphy of the Neanderthal lineage. Challenging this convention, depressions in the suprainiac region have also been described for two Pleistocene hominin crania from sub-Saharan Africa: Eyasi I (Tanzania) and ADU-VP-1/3 (Ethiopia). Here, we use a combined quantitative and qualitative approach, using μCT imaging, to investigate the occipital depressions on these specimens. The results show that neither the external nor the internal morphologies of these depressions bear any resemblance to the Neanderthal condition. A principal component analysis based on multiple thickness measurements along the occipital squama demonstrates that the relative thickness values for the internal structures in Eyasi I and ADU-VP-1/3 are within the range of Homo sapiens. Thus, our results support the autapomorphic status of the Neanderthal suprainiac fossa and highlight the need to use nuanced approaches and multiple lines of evidence.
尽管我们对更新世人类的表型变异有了稳定的了解，但关于具有系统发育信息的特征的争论仍在继续。这样的特征之一是顶间凹，即枕骨上顶骨下的凹陷，通常被认为是尼安德特人谱系的独特特征。挑战这一传统，来自撒哈拉以南非洲的两个更新世人颅骨——埃亚西 I 号（坦桑尼亚）和 ADU-VP-1/3 号（埃塞俄比亚）——也描述了顶间区的凹陷。在这里，我们使用结合定量和定性的方法，使用 μCT 成像，来研究这些标本的枕部凹陷。结果表明，这些凹陷的外部和内部形态都与尼安德特人没有任何相似之处。基于沿枕鳞的多个厚度测量的主成分分析表明，埃亚西 I 号和 ADU-VP-1/3 号内部结构的相对厚度值在智人范围内。因此，我们的结果支持尼安德特人顶间凹的独特特征，并强调需要使用细致的方法和多种证据。
