Unit of Theoretical Biology, Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 12;11(1):7997. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-86830-x.
As our human ancestors migrated into Eurasia, they faced a considerably harsher climate, but the extent to which human cranial morphology has adapted to this climate is still debated. In particular, it remains unclear when such facial adaptations arose in human populations. Here, we explore climate-associated features of face shape in a worldwide modern human sample using 3D geometric morphometrics and a novel application of reduced rank regression. Based on these data, we assess climate adaptations in two crucial Upper Palaeolithic human fossils, Sungir and Mladeč, associated with a boreal-to-temperate climate. We found several aspects of facial shape, especially the relative dimensions of the external nose, internal nose and maxillary sinuses, that are strongly associated with temperature and humidity, even after accounting for autocorrelation due to geographical proximity of populations. For these features, both fossils revealed adaptations to a dry environment, with Sungir being strongly associated with cold temperatures and Mladeč with warm-to-hot temperatures. These results suggest relatively quick adaptative rates of facial morphology in Upper Palaeolithic Europe.
当我们的人类祖先迁移到欧亚大陆时，他们面临着更为恶劣的气候，但人类颅骨形态在多大程度上适应了这种气候仍存在争议。特别是，人类群体中何时出现这种面部适应仍然不清楚。在这里，我们使用 3D 几何形态测量学和降秩回归的新应用，在全球现代人类样本中探索与气候相关的面部形状特征。基于这些数据，我们评估了与北方到温带气候相关的两个重要的旧石器时代晚期人类化石（Sungir 和 Mladeč）的气候适应情况。我们发现，面部形状的几个方面，尤其是外鼻、内鼻和上颌窦的相对尺寸，与温度和湿度密切相关，即使考虑到由于人群地理位置接近而导致的自相关。对于这些特征，两个化石都显示出对干燥环境的适应，Sungir 与寒冷的温度强烈相关，而 Mladeč 则与温暖到炎热的温度强烈相关。这些结果表明，在上旧石器时代的欧洲，面部形态的适应速度相对较快。
