Robert G Franciscus
Biographic Data
| ID | 94155 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert G Franciscus |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert G |
| FAMILY NAME | Franciscus |
| SIGNATURE | FRANCISCUS R G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 758 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 17 |
Neandertal Skeletal Anatomy
The Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis) are an extinct human species closely related to modern humans. They have the most extensive and well-documented fossil record of any fossil human group, allowing for a detailed understanding of their skeletal anatomy. This book offers a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge on Neandertals, presenting an in-depth exploration of their paleobiology through both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Con…
Climatic adaptation in human inferior nasal turbinate morphology
OBJECTIVES: The nasal turbinates directly influence the overall size, shape, and surface area of the nasal passages, and thus contribute to intranasal heat and moisture exchange. However, unlike the encapsulating walls of the nasal cavity, ecogeographic variation in nasal turbinate morphology among humans has not yet been established. Here we investigate variation in inferior nasal turbinate morphology in two populations from climatically extreme…
Ecogeographic variation across morphofunctional units of the human nose
OBJECTIVES: Although the internal nose is overwhelmingly responsible for heat and moisture exchange during respiration, external nasal morphology is more commonly cited as evincing climatic adaptation in humans. Here, we assess variation across all four morphofunctional units of the complete nasorespiratory tract (external pyramid, nasal aperture, internal nasal fossa, and nasopharynx) to determine which units provide the strongest evidence of cl…
The functional brain networks that underlie Early Stone Age tool manufacture
Absolute humidity and the human nose
OBJECTIVES: Investigations into the selective role of climate on human nasal variation commonly divide climates into four broad adaptive zones (hot-dry, hot-wet, cold-dry, and cold-wet) based on temperature and relative humidity. Yet, absolute humidity-not relative humidity-is physiologically more important during respiration. Here, we investigate the global distribution of absolute humidity to better clarify ecogeographic demands on nasal physio…
Spatial determinants of the mandibular curve of Spee in modern and archaic Homo
OBJECTIVES: The curve of Spee (COS) is a mesio-distally curved alignment of the canine through distal molar cusp tips in certain mammals including modern humans and some fossil hominins. In humans, the alignment varies from concave to flat, and previous studies have suggested that this difference reflects craniofacial morphology, including the degree of alveolar prognathism. However, the relationship between prognathism and concavity of the COS h…
The Role of Verbal Interaction During Experimental Bifacial Stone Tool Manufacture
Many researchers have hypothesized an analogous, and possibly evolutionary, relationship between Paleolithic stone tool manufacture and language. This study uses a unique design to investigate how spoken language may affect the transmission of learning to make stone tools and comes to surprising results that may have important implications for our views of this relationship. We conducted an experiment to test the effect of verbal communication on…
Functional and morphological correlates of mandibular symphyseal form in a living human sample
Variation in recent human mandibular form is often thought to reflect differences in masticatory behavior associated with variation in food preparation and subsistence strategies. Nevertheless, while mandibular variation in some human comparisons appear to reflect differences in functional loading, other comparisons indicate that this relationship is not universal. This suggests that morphological variation in the mandible is influenced by other …
The ontogeny of nasal floor shape variation in extant humans
Variation in nasal floor topography has generated both neontological and paleontological interest. Three categories of nasal floor shape (Franciscus: J Hum Evol 44 (2003) 699–727) have been used when analyzing this trait in extant humans and fossil Homo : flat, sloped, and depressed (or “bi‐level”). Variation in the frequency of these configurations within and among extant and fossil humans has been well‐documented (Franciscus: J Hum Evol 44 (200…
Craniofacial Feminization, Social Tolerance, and the Origins of Behavioral Modernity
The past 200,000 years of human cultural evolution have witnessed the persistent establishment of behaviors involving innovation, planning depth, and abstract and symbolic thought, or what has been called "behavioral modernity." Demographic models based on increased human population density from the late Pleistocene onward have been increasingly invoked to understand the emergence of behavioral modernity. However, high levels of social tolerance,…
Animals for food, animals for tools
The adoption of bone tool technology in the Early Upper Palaeolithic of Europe by Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans has been the focus of considerable debate. In particular this debate has focused on the origins of the technology and the possible implications for the extinction of Neanderthals. This dissertation examines the context of element selection for use as raw material to produce bone tools, related to prey species in the Châtel…
The mesosternum of the Regourdou 1 Neandertal revisited
New 1.5 million-year-old Homo erectus maxilla from Sangiran (Central Java, Indonesia)
Climatic adaptation and Neandertal facial evolution
Morphometric identification of bovid metapodials to genus and implications for taxon-free habitat reconstruction
Body size and its consequences
Kebara 2
Allometric scaling of infraorbital surface topography in Homo
Shanidar 3 Neandertal rib puncture wound and paleolithic weaponry
The paradox of a wide nasal aperture in cold-adapted Neandertals
Peştera cu Oase 2 and the cranial morphology of early modern Europeans
Between 2003 and 2005, the Peştera cu Oase, Romania yielded a largely complete early modern human cranium, Oase 2, scattered on the surface of a Late Pleistocene hydraulically displaced bone bed containing principally the remains of Ursus spelaeus . Multiple lines of evidence indicate an age of ≈40.5 thousand calendar years before the present (≈35 ka 14 C B.P.). Morphological comparison of the adolescent Oase 2 cranium to relevant Late Pleistocen…
Patterns of craniofacial integration in extantHomo,Pan, andGorilla
Brain size increased greatly during Pleistocene human evolution, while overall facial and dentognathic size decreased markedly. This mosaic pattern is due to either selective forces that acted uniquely on each functional unit in a modularized, developmentally uncoupled craniofacial complex, or alternatively, selection that acted primarily on one unit, with the other responding passively as part of a coevolved set of ontogenetically and evolutiona…
Bite force production capability and efficiency in Neandertals and modern humans
Although there is consensus that Neandertal craniofacial morphology is unique in the genus Homo, debate continues regarding the precise anatomical basis for this uniqueness and the evolutionary mechanism that produced it. In recent years, biomechanical explanations have received the most attention. Some proponents of the "anterior dental loading hypothesis" (ADLH) maintain that Neandertal facial anatomy was an adaptive response to high-magnitude …
Internal nasal floor configuration in Homo with special reference to the evolution of Neandertal facial form
The costal skeleton of Shanidar 3 and a reappraisal of Neandertal thoracic morphology
The costal skeleton of Shanidar 3 and a reappraisal of Neandertal thoracic morphology
Determinants of retromolar space presence in Pleistocene Homo mandibles
Kebara 2
Internal nasal floor configuration in Homo with special reference to the evolution of Neandertal facial form
Nasal morphology and the emergence of Homo erectus
Modern humans, among extant hominoids, possess a unique projecting, external nose whose basic structure is reflected in a series of skeletal features including nasal bone convexity, an internasal angle, lateral nasal aperture eversion, prominence and anterior positioning of the anterior nasal spine, an acute angle of the subnasal alveolar clivus, and an expansion of the breadth of the nasal bones relative to that of the piriform aperture. This an…
Bite force production capability and efficiency in Neandertals and modern humans
Although there is consensus that Neandertal craniofacial morphology is unique in the genus Homo, debate continues regarding the precise anatomical basis for this uniqueness and the evolutionary mechanism that produced it. In recent years, biomechanical explanations have received the most attention. Some proponents of the "anterior dental loading hypothesis" (ADLH) maintain that Neandertal facial anatomy was an adaptive response to high-magnitude …
Variation in human nasal height and breadth
It has been suggested that the long‐standing association of variability in the human nasal index [100 × (nasal breadth)/(nasal height)] with climatic variation is spurious evidence for natural selection in humans (Hoyme, 1965; St. Hoyme and Iscan, 1989). The argument is based principally on the observation that nasal height is globally more variable than nasal breadth, with nasal breadth thus contributing little to variation in the index. This ar…
The Role of Verbal Interaction During Experimental Bifacial Stone Tool Manufacture
Many researchers have hypothesized an analogous, and possibly evolutionary, relationship between Paleolithic stone tool manufacture and language. This study uses a unique design to investigate how spoken language may affect the transmission of learning to make stone tools and comes to surprising results that may have important implications for our views of this relationship. We conducted an experiment to test the effect of verbal communication on…
Craniofacial Feminization, Social Tolerance, and the Origins of Behavioral Modernity
The past 200,000 years of human cultural evolution have witnessed the persistent establishment of behaviors involving innovation, planning depth, and abstract and symbolic thought, or what has been called "behavioral modernity." Demographic models based on increased human population density from the late Pleistocene onward have been increasingly invoked to understand the emergence of behavioral modernity. However, high levels of social tolerance,…
The paradox of a wide nasal aperture in cold-adapted Neandertals
Allometric scaling of infraorbital surface topography in Homo
Shanidar 3 Neandertal rib puncture wound and paleolithic weaponry
The functional brain networks that underlie Early Stone Age tool manufacture
Body size and its consequences
The mesosternum of the Regourdou 1 Neandertal revisited
Patterns of craniofacial integration in extantHomo,Pan, andGorilla
Brain size increased greatly during Pleistocene human evolution, while overall facial and dentognathic size decreased markedly. This mosaic pattern is due to either selective forces that acted uniquely on each functional unit in a modularized, developmentally uncoupled craniofacial complex, or alternatively, selection that acted primarily on one unit, with the other responding passively as part of a coevolved set of ontogenetically and evolutiona…
"Hindlimb skeletal allometry in plio-pleistocene hominids with special reference to AL-288-1 ("Lucy)
Franciscus Robert G., Holliday T. W. Hindlimb skeletal allometry in plio-pleistocene hominids with special reference to AL-288-1 ("Lucy"). In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, Nouvelle Série. Tome 4 fascicule 1-2, 1992. pp. 5-20
Morphometric identification of bovid metapodials to genus and implications for taxon-free habitat reconstruction
Ecogeographic variation across morphofunctional units of the human nose
OBJECTIVES: Although the internal nose is overwhelmingly responsible for heat and moisture exchange during respiration, external nasal morphology is more commonly cited as evincing climatic adaptation in humans. Here, we assess variation across all four morphofunctional units of the complete nasorespiratory tract (external pyramid, nasal aperture, internal nasal fossa, and nasopharynx) to determine which units provide the strongest evidence of cl…
Absolute humidity and the human nose
OBJECTIVES: Investigations into the selective role of climate on human nasal variation commonly divide climates into four broad adaptive zones (hot-dry, hot-wet, cold-dry, and cold-wet) based on temperature and relative humidity. Yet, absolute humidity-not relative humidity-is physiologically more important during respiration. Here, we investigate the global distribution of absolute humidity to better clarify ecogeographic demands on nasal physio…
Climatic adaptation and Neandertal facial evolution
Climatic adaptation in human inferior nasal turbinate morphology
OBJECTIVES: The nasal turbinates directly influence the overall size, shape, and surface area of the nasal passages, and thus contribute to intranasal heat and moisture exchange. However, unlike the encapsulating walls of the nasal cavity, ecogeographic variation in nasal turbinate morphology among humans has not yet been established. Here we investigate variation in inferior nasal turbinate morphology in two populations from climatically extreme…
Functional and morphological correlates of mandibular symphyseal form in a living human sample
Variation in recent human mandibular form is often thought to reflect differences in masticatory behavior associated with variation in food preparation and subsistence strategies. Nevertheless, while mandibular variation in some human comparisons appear to reflect differences in functional loading, other comparisons indicate that this relationship is not universal. This suggests that morphological variation in the mandible is influenced by other …
A Reconstruction of the Shanidar 4 Facial Skeleton
We have reconstructed the anterior craniofacial morphology of the probably last inter glacial Shanidar 4 hominid based on the midlines of the frontal and mandible, with the maxillae and the left zygomatic region aligned between them. reconstruction provides a frontal with a flat sagittal arc and a projecting mid-supraorbital torus. Shanidar 4 has a prognathic absolutely and relative to body size, combined with a zygomaxillary region that is promi…
The ontogeny of nasal floor shape variation in extant humans
Variation in nasal floor topography has generated both neontological and paleontological interest. Three categories of nasal floor shape (Franciscus: J Hum Evol 44 (2003) 699–727) have been used when analyzing this trait in extant humans and fossil Homo : flat, sloped, and depressed (or “bi‐level”). Variation in the frequency of these configurations within and among extant and fossil humans has been well‐documented (Franciscus: J Hum Evol 44 (200…
Nasal morphology and the emergence of Homo erectus
Modern humans, among extant hominoids, possess a unique projecting, external nose whose basic structure is reflected in a series of skeletal features including nasal bone convexity, an internasal angle, lateral nasal aperture eversion, prominence and anterior positioning of the anterior nasal spine, an acute angle of the subnasal alveolar clivus, and an expansion of the breadth of the nasal bones relative to that of the piriform aperture. This an…
Variation in human nasal height and breadth
It has been suggested that the long‐standing association of variability in the human nasal index [100 × (nasal breadth)/(nasal height)] with climatic variation is spurious evidence for natural selection in humans (Hoyme, 1965; St. Hoyme and Iscan, 1989). The argument is based principally on the observation that nasal height is globally more variable than nasal breadth, with nasal breadth thus contributing little to variation in the index. This ar…
"Hindlimb skeletal allometry in plio-pleistocene hominids with special reference to AL-288-1 ("Lucy)
Franciscus Robert G., Holliday T. W. Hindlimb skeletal allometry in plio-pleistocene hominids with special reference to AL-288-1 ("Lucy"). In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, Nouvelle Série. Tome 4 fascicule 1-2, 1992. pp. 5-20
Determinants of retromolar space presence in Pleistocene Homo mandibles
Direct dating of Florisbad hominid
A Reconstruction of the Shanidar 4 Facial Skeleton
We have reconstructed the anterior craniofacial morphology of the probably last inter glacial Shanidar 4 hominid based on the midlines of the frontal and mandible, with the maxillae and the left zygomatic region aligned between them. reconstruction provides a frontal with a flat sagittal arc and a projecting mid-supraorbital torus. Shanidar 4 has a prognathic absolutely and relative to body size, combined with a zygomaxillary region that is promi…
The costal skeleton of Shanidar 3 and a reappraisal of Neandertal thoracic morphology
Internal nasal floor configuration in Homo with special reference to the evolution of Neandertal facial form
Bite force production capability and efficiency in Neandertals and modern humans
Although there is consensus that Neandertal craniofacial morphology is unique in the genus Homo, debate continues regarding the precise anatomical basis for this uniqueness and the evolutionary mechanism that produced it. In recent years, biomechanical explanations have received the most attention. Some proponents of the "anterior dental loading hypothesis" (ADLH) maintain that Neandertal facial anatomy was an adaptive response to high-magnitude …
Patterns of craniofacial integration in extantHomo,Pan, andGorilla
Brain size increased greatly during Pleistocene human evolution, while overall facial and dentognathic size decreased markedly. This mosaic pattern is due to either selective forces that acted uniquely on each functional unit in a modularized, developmentally uncoupled craniofacial complex, or alternatively, selection that acted primarily on one unit, with the other responding passively as part of a coevolved set of ontogenetically and evolutiona…
Peştera cu Oase 2 and the cranial morphology of early modern Europeans
Between 2003 and 2005, the Peştera cu Oase, Romania yielded a largely complete early modern human cranium, Oase 2, scattered on the surface of a Late Pleistocene hydraulically displaced bone bed containing principally the remains of Ursus spelaeus . Multiple lines of evidence indicate an age of ≈40.5 thousand calendar years before the present (≈35 ka 14 C B.P.). Morphological comparison of the adolescent Oase 2 cranium to relevant Late Pleistocen…
The paradox of a wide nasal aperture in cold-adapted Neandertals
Morphometric identification of bovid metapodials to genus and implications for taxon-free habitat reconstruction
Body size and its consequences
Kebara 2
Allometric scaling of infraorbital surface topography in Homo
Shanidar 3 Neandertal rib puncture wound and paleolithic weaponry
New 1.5 million-year-old Homo erectus maxilla from Sangiran (Central Java, Indonesia)
Climatic adaptation and Neandertal facial evolution
The mesosternum of the Regourdou 1 Neandertal revisited
Animals for food, animals for tools
The adoption of bone tool technology in the Early Upper Palaeolithic of Europe by Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans has been the focus of considerable debate. In particular this debate has focused on the origins of the technology and the possible implications for the extinction of Neanderthals. This dissertation examines the context of element selection for use as raw material to produce bone tools, related to prey species in the Châtel…
The Role of Verbal Interaction During Experimental Bifacial Stone Tool Manufacture
Many researchers have hypothesized an analogous, and possibly evolutionary, relationship between Paleolithic stone tool manufacture and language. This study uses a unique design to investigate how spoken language may affect the transmission of learning to make stone tools and comes to surprising results that may have important implications for our views of this relationship. We conducted an experiment to test the effect of verbal communication on…
Functional and morphological correlates of mandibular symphyseal form in a living human sample
Variation in recent human mandibular form is often thought to reflect differences in masticatory behavior associated with variation in food preparation and subsistence strategies. Nevertheless, while mandibular variation in some human comparisons appear to reflect differences in functional loading, other comparisons indicate that this relationship is not universal. This suggests that morphological variation in the mandible is influenced by other …
The ontogeny of nasal floor shape variation in extant humans
Variation in nasal floor topography has generated both neontological and paleontological interest. Three categories of nasal floor shape (Franciscus: J Hum Evol 44 (2003) 699–727) have been used when analyzing this trait in extant humans and fossil Homo : flat, sloped, and depressed (or “bi‐level”). Variation in the frequency of these configurations within and among extant and fossil humans has been well‐documented (Franciscus: J Hum Evol 44 (200…
Craniofacial Feminization, Social Tolerance, and the Origins of Behavioral Modernity
The past 200,000 years of human cultural evolution have witnessed the persistent establishment of behaviors involving innovation, planning depth, and abstract and symbolic thought, or what has been called "behavioral modernity." Demographic models based on increased human population density from the late Pleistocene onward have been increasingly invoked to understand the emergence of behavioral modernity. However, high levels of social tolerance,…
Biology (27 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (22 works) · Anatomy (17 works) · Anatomy (17 works) · Paleontology (14 works) · Paleontology (14 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (13 works) · Evolution and Paleontology Studies (11 works) · Evolutionary biology (10 works) · Geography (9 works)