Comparison Of Liang Bua Species

A. As you observe the skull, explain how the structure of the sutures between the cranial bones is related to the overall function of the cranium.

Homo Heidelbergensis: Lower half of skull pops out more than the rest of the ‘homo skulls’

The significance of finding these traits primitive in nature compared to the apes is that it shows how these are specialisations for apes to better access their terrestrial and tree dwelling environments. It also indicates that hominids did not develop these traits and therefore developed a less specialised grasping hand (Lovejoy et al., 2009a). Further evidence to support the hypothesis that Ardipithecus ramidus were both bipedal for tree dwelling life and land living is in the wrist bones. The bones were less fixed with the joints providing mobility to the hand. The most significant feature is the midcarpal joint, which shows increased flexibility that would allow Ardipithecus ramidus the ability to bear its body weight solely on it’s hands whilst moving throughout trees (Lovejoy et al., 2009a). The length of the upper limbs overall would have been difficult to support vertical climbs and aid in reaching longer distances between trees commonly found in arboreal settings (Sarmiento et al., 2011)

Chimpanzees, also known as Pan Troglodytes, are an African species of great ape which have a stronger degree of relation to us than to gorillas (National Geographic, n.d.; Gebo, 2014). They move both on land and in trees, mainly eating and resting above ground. An opposable thumb and four fingers provide the ability to cling to trees, and the strength for this comes from a variety of muscles such as the deltoid. The can move swiftly on land due to no tail and a plump body. Quadrupedal locomotion is more likely to be executed on land, due to curvature of the spine, and their knuckles assist them during this movement (Corporation, 2010; Fleagle, 2013). However, chimpanzees also demonstrate bipedal locomotion when required, for example, to socialise using hand signals (Corporation, 2010). Whilst moving in trees, they adopt suspensory as well as quadrupedal movement (Fleagle, 2013).

The primate cranial base has been an important structure to investigate for analyses involving facial, cranial, and brain morphology. Specifically, the basicranium has sparked interest because of the correlations found between the Cranial Base Angle (CBA) and brain size in non-hominoid primates. Previous studies have indicated that there may be a direct correlation between the degree of cranial base flexion and relative brain size in primates. Based upon this knowledge, it is possible to design hypotheses to test CBA correlation to relative brain size, encephalization rates, endocranial volume, and to investigate development of the cranial base and CBA ontogenetically. The study here will analyze these correlations by documenting cranial landmarks relative to linear length and size in order to establish planes and angle measurements. The data collected here will focus on comparing species from the parvorders Catarrhini and Platyrrhini to demonstrate that catarrhines show an evolutionary tendency towards higher encephalization and ergo a smaller (more flexed) CBA. Unlike previous studies, the analyses performed here will include

The numbers for endocranial volume measured in centimeters for the mean in Homo Erectus were, 952.3, 1229.6 for Mid-Pleistocene and 1350 for the most recent humans. For the frontal arc, we really can not say that there is any similar measurement between the three because there are no measurements given to us for the recent humans. There are measurements for the parietal arc, and occipital arc both measured in millimeters. For the parietal arc measurements in Homo Erectus were 101.8, 114.8 for Mid-Pleistocene, and 125 for recent humans. In the occipital measurements for Homo Erectus, it was 108.6, in Mid-Pleistocene 122.8, and finally 111 for recent humans. One last similar measurement that I am going to mention is the frontal angle with 142.2 in Homo Erectus, 140.8 in Mid-Pleistocene, and lastly 129 in recent humans. In one last measurement that I am going to mention is the occipital angle measuring 104.2 for Homo Erecus,, 106.8 in the Mid-Pleistocene homonins, and 119 in recent humans. There were more measurements but the ones that showed the similarity between them were the ones that were put on here. The measurements clearly show that they are very close to the homonins in Mid-Pleistocene. We can also see that as evolution occurred, the skull increased in size due to the brain also

Many people, before the discovery of Homo floresiensis, assumed Homo sapiens were the only living species of the genus homo since Homo erectus. The 2003 discovery of “the hobbit” in a limestone cave in Flores, Indonesia changed the way people today view much of the timeline of early human evolution. The island of Flores was assumed to have never been connected to any mainland, bringing to question how this species arrived on the island in the first place as well as what the island looked like at the time. There were several physical characteristics such as leg length and brain size that made the discovery of Homo floresiensis so special. The bones found were dated to 18,000 years ago, astoundingly recently (Brown). To this day, it is unclear how this species evolved to be so small. Scientists had developed several different theories but have frequently come to the conclusion that these humans were affected by island dwarfism (Morwood). The environment in which Homo floresiensis lived, their physical structure and the recency of their existence holds many mysteries around why they were so small and what impact the above factors had on the hobbit’s overall size.

Microcephalia is a clinical condition in which the occipital frontal head circumference is severely reduced, and because the cranial capacity of LB1, is only 417 cm3, microcephaly was seen as one of the most important theories relating to the existence of Homo Floresiensis. It can be caused by decreased brain size at birth or by impaired brain growth post-birth, and can also be due to genetic as well as environmental factors. The wide range of brain volumes in microcephalic modern humans is predominantly smaller than those of the average human brain volume, thus the range of brain volumes of human microcephalics encompasses the volume of the Homo floresiensis brain. Regarding both stature and absolute brain volume, Homo floresiensis are smaller than any other known hominins, including Homo erectus, Homo habilis and Australopithecines. Weber et al. (2006) analyzed the morphology of 19 microcephalic brains and thus argued that the brain morphology is not adequately different enough to exclude the possibility that it might be of microcephalic origin.

Digital images were captured for 156 individual corresponding to 78 males and 78 females, that did not alter its form during the process of preservation. The individuals were located laterally in the center of the visual field with graph paper in the background at 335mm of focus distance using a Canon PowerShot A430 digital camera mounted on a tripod. We used the module COO V-41 of the CLIC 45 software (Dujardin 2012) to digitize the 13 landmarks: (1) snout, (2) supraoccipital, (3, 4) dorsal fin, (5) Start adipose fin, (6, 7) caudal peduncle, (8, 9) anal fin, (10) Start pelvic fin, (11) Start

This hypothesis also assumes that bipedalism evolved in the savannah and not the forest. Also, the monogamy of early hominids is highly

Morwood contacted Dr. Susan Larson and Dr. William Jungers, of Stony Brook University Medical Center. Drs. Larson and Jungers are experts on human evolutionary anatomy, particularly with regard to the functional morphology of the arms and legs. Dr. Larson has shown that the shoulder of Homo floresiensis is more like that in Homo erectus rather than modern humans, and Dr. Jungers has demonstrated many anatomical features of the "hobbit" foot that are shared with African apes and early hominins like Australopithecus afarensis (e.g., "Lucy"). Dr. Morwood also invited hominin brain expert Dr. Dean Falk to analyze the endocast of Homo floresiensis. Dr. Falk has identified several features in the "hobbit" brain that suggest neural reorganization despite its overall small size. Additional research focused on the paleobiology and archeology of Homo floresiensis by Drs. Morwood, Brown, Larson, Jungers, Falk, their many Indonesian colleagues, and a large international network of scientific experts, was published in a special issue of Journal of Human Evolution (November

Their legs would have made Homo erectus efficient long distance runners like modern humans. It has been suggested that this capability would have allowed them to run down small and even medium size game animals on the tropical savannas of East Africa. If this was the case, it is also likely that they were largely hairless by this time. Bodies with little hair are more efficient at remaining cool via the evaporation of sweat during times of heavy exertion. Four legged mammals primarily cool their bodies by panting. Because they are unable to pant while galloping, they readily overheat in hot weather. As a consequence, they cannot run long distances without collapsing from heat exhaustion. This gives human hunters a decisive advantage when chasing them.

There are several unique identifying features of H. floresiensis that are crucial in how to classify this collection of specimens. These remains represented an individual with small stature, standing at about only 1 meter (3.5 ft.) tall (Olszewski, 2016). These estimates are based on the measurements of the tibia and comparing that

On the island of Flores, Indonesia, a skull was extracted from a cave in 2003. This cave was known as Liang Bua and the specimen became known as Liang Bua 1 (LB1). When researchers first discovered this skull, they thought it belonged to a young child about three or four years old because it was so small (Baab 2012). As days went on, more of the cranium and mandible became exposed and they determined this skull did not belong to a small child. Eventually, arm bones along with leg, feet, and wrist bones were discovered for LB1. LB1 was very short, approximately 3’6”, which was similar to the other specimens found on this island (Baab 2012). LB1 is the specimen for the species Homo floresiensis, also known as the “Hobbit” (Baab and McNulty 2009, Dennell and Roebroeks 2005, Van Heteren 2013). Due to lack of evidence, the evolution of Homo floresiensis remains very controversial. At the very beginning, it was thought that the morphology of LB1 was due to island evolution (Aiello 2010). The isolation from being on an island was considered to be the reasoning for the short stature and dwarf-like characteristics and that this species was a descendent of a large-bodied hominin (Baab and McNulty 2009). The morphology of the cranium and mandible has presented many different interpretations of the evolution of H. floresiensis. As of now, there are two competing hypotheses to possibly explain this evolution. Initial evidence shows that Homo floresiensis was a diseased

As a first-year palaeontologist student and got the opportunity to work in the Queensland Museum, My cohort and I found that human skulls evolved differently over time. From research, it is evident that Homo erectus was lived in the North, East, South and West Africa, as well as West and East Asia. The skull was dispersed thoroughly around the old world. They are the oldest known humans to have human-like features, but with longer legs and shorter arms. “These features are considered adaptions, with the ability of to walk and possibly run long distances” (Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History). From finding the cranial index of Homo erectus it is classified as mesaticephalic “medium headed” skull. The Homo Heidelbergenesis was lived throughout