Relationship of squamosal suture to asterion in pongids ( Pan )

Relevance to early hominid brain evolution

Bibliographic Data

ID8316696
AuthorsRalph L Holloway (Columbia University), Jill S Shapiro (Columbia University)
Year1992
Volume89
Issue3
Pages275-282
Publication date1992-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.1330890302
PMID1485636
OpenAlexW2019694763
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited8

Based on 244 measurements of the relationship of the squamosal suture to the landmark asterion in 49 chimpanzee skulls, it is shown that in the normal lateral view the squamosal suture is very rarely inferior to asterion. In hominid crania, the squamosal suture is always well superior to asterion. Even in Pan , that part of the squamosal suture most homologous with the remnant found on the Hadar AL 162–28 Australopithecus afarensis hominid cranial fragment is very rarely inferior to asterion. Such variability suggests that Falk's (Nature 313: 45–47, 1985) orientation of the Hadar specimen is incorrect; she places asterion superior to the position of the squamosal suture if projected endocranially. The implication for the brain endocast is that, however the fragment is oriented, the posterior aspect of the intraparietal (IP) sulcus is in a very posterior position relative to any chimpanzee brain. The distance from the posterior aspect of IP to occipital pole is twice as great in chimpanzee brain casts than on the Hadar AL 162–28 endocast, even though the chimpanzee brain casts are smaller in overall size. This suggests that brain reorganization, at least as exemplified as a reduction in primary visual striate cortex (area 17 of Brodmann), occurred early in hominid evolution, prior to any major brain expansion. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc

Biology · Fibrous joint · Political science · Relevance (law) · Anatomy · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Primate Behavior and Ecology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub