Revisiting the cranial variability of the Dmanisi hominins

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1898-6773.87.2.06

Keywords:

Homo erectus, Homo georgicus, Homo caucasi, paleoanthropology

Abstract

The Dmanisi specimens represent the most diverse contemporaneous hominin fossils found at one single site and are key in understanding the first out -of- Africa dispersal and the origins of Homo erectus. Due to these reasons, they have]e been the focus of many studies in paleoanthropology in the last 30 years. However, there has not been any consensus on how to classify these fossils, nor has it been clarified how many species were co-living at that site. In this article, we aim to revisit the subject and contribute further to the discussion.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Agustí J. 2018. Evolution Of The ‘Homo’ Genus: New Mysteries And Perspectives. Mètode Science Studies Journal 8:71–77. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.8.9308
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.8.9308

Arsuaga JL, Martínez I, Gracia A, Lorenzo C. 1997. The Sima de los Huesos crania (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). A comparative study. J Hum Evol 33:219–281. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1997.0133
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1997.0133

Berger LR, De Ruiter DJ, Churchill SE, Schmid P, Carlson KJ, Dirks PH, Kibii JM. 2010. Australopithecus sediba: a new species of Homo-like australopith from South Africa. Science 328:195–204. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1184944
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1184944

Darroch JN, Mosimann JE. 1985. Canonical and principal components of shape. Biometrika 72(2):241–252. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/72.2.241
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/72.2.241

Ferring R, Oms O, Agustí J, Berna F, Nioradze M, Shelia T, et al. 2011. Earliest human occupations at Dmanisi (Georgian Caucasus) dated to 1.85–1.78 Ma. PNAS 108(26):10432–10436. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106638108
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106638108

Gabunia L, Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D, Swisher C, Ferring R, Justus A, et al. 2000. Earliest Pleistocene Hominid Cranial Remains from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia: Taxonomy, Geological Setting, and Age. Science. 288 (5468): 1019–1025. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5468.1019
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5468.1019

Gabunia L, De Lumley MA, Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D, De Lumley H. 2002. Découverte dun nouvel hominidé a Dmanissi (Transcaucasie, Géorgie). Comptes Rendus Palevol 1:242– 253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00032-5
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00032-5

Garcia T, Féraud G, Falguères C, De Lumley H, Perrenoud C, Lordkipanidze D. 2010. Earliest human remains in Eurasia: new 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Dmanisi hominid-bearing levels, Georgia. Quaternary Geochronology 5(4):443–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2009.09.012
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2009.09.012

Guipert G, De Lumley MA, De Lumley H. 2014. Restauration virtuelle d’Arago 21. Comptes Rendus Palevol 13(1):51–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2013.07.004
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2013.07.004

Hubbe M, Harvati K, Neves W. 2011. Paleoamerican morphology in the context of European and East Asian late Pleistocene variation: Implications for human dispersion into the new world. AJBA 144:442–453. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21425
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21425

Isaac NJ, Mallet J, Mace GM. 2004. Taxonomic inflation: its influence on macroecology and conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 19(9):464–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.06.004
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.06.004

Kaifu Y, Aziz F, Indriati E, Jacob T, Kurniawan I, Baba H. 2008. Cranial morphology of Javanese Homo erectus: new evidence for continuous evolution, specialization, and terminal extinction. J Hum Evol 55(4):551–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.002
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.002

Laird MF, Schroeder L, Garvin HM, Scott JE, Dembo M., Radovčić D. et al. 2017. The skull of Homo naledi. J Hum Evol 104:100–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.009
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.009

Lordkipanidze D, Jashashvili T, Vekua A, De León MSP, Zollikofer CP, Rightmire GP, et al. 2007: Postcranial evidence from early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Nature 449(7160):305–310. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06134
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06134

Lordkipanidze D, Ponce De León MS, Margvelashvili A, Rak Y, Rightmire GP, Vekua A, Zollikofer CP. 2013. A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo. Science 342(6156):326–331. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238484
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238484

Lordkipanidze D. 2017. The History of Early Homo. In: M Tibayrenc, and FJ Ayala (eds.). On Human Nature: Biology, Psychology, Ethics, Politics, and Religion. Academic Press. pp. 45–54.
View in Google Scholar

Lordkipanidze D, Vekua A, Ferring R, Rightmire GP, Agusti J, Kiladze G, et al. 2005. The earliest toothless hominin skull. Nature 434 (7034):717–718. https://doi.org/10.1038/434717b
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/434717b

Lordkipanidze D, Vekua A, Ferring R, Rightmire GP, Zollikofer CP, Ponce De León MS, et al. 2006. A fourth hominin skull from Dmanisi, Georgia. The Anatomical Record Part A. 288A(11):1146–1157. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.a.20379
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.a.20379

Lubsen KD, Corruccini RS. 2011. Morphometric analysis of the Herto cranium (BOU-VP-16/1): Where does it fit?. Journal of Contemporary Anthropology 2(1):1–16.
View in Google Scholar

Meiri S, Mace GM. 2007. New taxonomy and the origin of species. PLoS Biology 5(7):e194. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050194
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050194

Mgladze A, Lordkipanidze D, Moncel M, Despriee J, Chagelishvili R, Nioradze M, Nioradze G. 2011. Hominin occupations at the Dmanisi site, Georgia, Southern Caucasus: Raw materials and technical behaviours of Europe’s first hominins”. J Hum Evol 60(5):571–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.10.008
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.10.008

Neves WA, Bernardo DV. 2011. The first hominin of Europe: a multivariate exploratory analysis. Revista de Arqueologia 24(1):102–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.24885/sab.v24i1.317
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.24885/sab.v24i1.317

Ni X, Ji Q, Wu W, Shao Q, Ji Y, Zhang C, et al. 2021. Massive cranium from Harbin in northeastern China establishes a new Middle Pleistocene human lineage. The Innovation 2(3): 100130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130

Rightmire GP. 1990. The evolution of Homo erectus: comparative anatomical studies of an extinct human species. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 157–168.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511525674

Rightmire PG. 1996. The human cranium from Bodo, Ethiopia: evidence for speciation in the Middle Pleistocene? J Hum Evol 31(1):21–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006%2Fjhev.1996.0046
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2484(96)90046-9

Rightmire GP, De León MSP, Lordkipanidze D, Margvelashvili A, Zollikofer CP. 2017. Skull 5 from Dmanisi: Descriptive anatomy, comparative studies, and evolutionary significance. J Hum Evol 104:50–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.005
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.005

Rightmire GP, Margvelashvili A, Lordkipanidze D. 2018. Variation among the Dmanisi hominins: Multiple taxa or one species? Am J Phys Anthropol. 168(3): 481–495. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23759
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23759

Scardia G, Neves WA, Tattersall I, Blumrich L. 2020. What kind of hominin first left Africa?. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 30(2):122–127. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21863
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21863

Schwartz JH, Tattersall I, Zhang C. 2014. Comment on “A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo”. Science 344:360. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250056
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250056

Skinner MM, Gordon AD, Collard NJ. 2006. Mandibular size and shape variation in the hominins at Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia. J Hum Evol 51(1):36–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.01.006
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.01.006

Slowikowski K. 2023. ggrepel: automatically position non-overlapping text labels with “ggplot2”. Available at: https://github.com/slowkow/ggrepe
View in Google Scholar

Stringer CB, Howell FC, Melentis JK. 1979. The significance of the fossil hominid skull from Petralona, Greece. Journal of Archaeological Science 6(3):235–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(79)90002-5
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(79)90002-5

Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D. 2010. Dmanisi (Georgia) – Site of Discovery of the Oldest Hominid in Eurasia. Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences 4(2):158–164.
View in Google Scholar

Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D, Rightmire GP, Agusti J, Ferring R, Maisuradze G, et al. 2002. A new skull of early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Science 297(5578):85–89. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1072953
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1072953

Venables WN, Ripley BD. 2002. Modern Applied Statistics with S. Statistics and Computing, Springer. Weidenreich F. 1936. The mandibles of Sinanthropus pekinensis: A comparative study. Paleontologia Sinica, Ser. D 7:1–162.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-21706-2

Wickham H. 2016. ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag New York.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24277-4_9

Zollikofer CP, Ponce De Leon MS, Margvelashvili A, Rightmire GP, Lordkipanidze D. 2014. Response to Comment on “A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo”.Science344,360–360(2014). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250081.
View in Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250081

Downloads

Published

2024-07-01

How to Cite

Neves, W., Senger, M. H., Valota, L., & Hubbe, M. (2024). Revisiting the cranial variability of the Dmanisi hominins. Anthropological Review, 87(2), 113–125. https://doi.org/10.18778/1898-6773.87.2.06

Issue

Section

Articles

Funding data

Similar Articles

<< < 1 2 3 4 5 6 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.