Brain size and encephalization in early to Mid‐Pleistocene Homo
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8319019 |
|---|---|
| Authors | G P Rightmire (0000-0001-7922-4549, Binghamton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 124 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 109-123 |
| Publication date | 2004-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ajpa.10346 |
| PMID | 15160365 |
| OpenAlex | W2061810403 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 124 |
| References cited | 90 |
Important changes in the brain have occurred during the course of human evolution. Both absolute and relative size increases can be documented for species of Homo , culminating in the appearance of modern humans. One species that is particularly well‐represented by fossil crania is Homo erectus . The mean capacity for 30 individuals is 973 cm 3 . Within this group there is substantial variation, but brain size increases slightly in specimens from later time periods. Other Middle Pleistocene crania differ from those of Homo erectus . Characters of the facial skeleton, vault, and cranial base suggest that fossils from sites such as Arago Cave in France, the Sima de los Huesos in Spain, Bodo in Ethiopia, Broken Hill in Zambia, and perhaps Dali in China belong to the taxon Homo heidelbergensis . Ten of these mid‐Quaternary hominins have brains averaging 1,206 cm 3 in volume, and many fall beyond the limits of size predicted for Homo erectus of equivalent age. When orbit height is used to construct an index of relative brain size, it is apparent that the (significant) increase in volume documented for the Middle Pleistocene individuals is not simply a consequence of larger body mass. Encephalization quotient values confirm this finding. These changes in absolute and relative brain size can be taken as further corroborative evidence for a speciation event, in which Homo erectus produced a daughter lineage. It is probable that Homo heidelbergensis originated in Africa or western Eurasia and then ranged widely across the Old World. Archaeological traces indicate that these populations differed in their technology and behavior from earlier hominins. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc
Archaeology · Biology · Brain size · Crania · Early Pleistocene · Encephalization · Evolutionary biology · Geography · Homo erectus · Human evolution · Pleistocene · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Primate Behavior and Ecology
The Trans-Evol project
‘Primordial’ social harmony and the political power of language
On Tools Making Minds
A case of techno-typological lithic variability & continuity in the late Lower Palaeolithic
The Social Brain and the Shape of the Palaeolithic
A comparative study of frontal bone morphology among Pleistocene hominin fossil groups
The Evolutionary Biology of the Human Pelvis
Population Biology and Population Genetics of Pleistocene Hominins
Comparisons of Early Pleistocene Skulls from East Africa and the Georgian Caucasus
Neanderthals Revisited
The Genus Homo in Africa
Evolution of the modern human brain
Ancestors of the Ancestors
Evolution of hominin cranial ontogeny
Hominins and the emergence of the modern human brain
Body size, body proportions, and encephalization in a Middle Pleistocene archaic human from northern China
Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia
Middle and later Pleistocene hominins in Africa and Southwest Asia
Cooperative hunting and meat sharing 400–200 kya at Qesem Cave, Israel
The first human fossil from the Ruidera site (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain)
Stature, body mass, and brain size
The symmetry of Acheulean handaxes and cognitive evolution
Cranial vault shape in fossil hominids
Doing with less
Homo erectus in Salkhit, Mongolia
Brain Size Growth and Life History in Human Evolution
The Evolution of Brain and Body Size in Genus Homo
Scraper Blank Morphology and Artifact Use-Life in the Acheulo-Yabrudian of Tabun Cave, Israel
Digital 3D facial approximation of the Petralona skull. Methodological issues and applications
From Pan to Homo sapiens
Behavioural complexity, cultural mosaics, and the routeways to modern behaviour from a Middle Pleistocene European perspective
Revising the hypodigm of Homo heidelbergensis
The earliest occupation of north-west Europe
An evolutionary perspective on coastal adaptations by modern humans during the Middle Stone Age of Africa
Lost and found
Late Acheulian multiplicity in manufactured stone culture at the end of the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe
Small-scale environmental fluctuations and their possible effects on cognitive evolution and migration of Homo
A paleoneurological survey of Homo erectus endocranial metrics
The environment and chronology of the earliest occupation of north-west Europe
Morphological and morphometric analysis of variation in the Zhoukoudian Homo erectus brain endocasts
Position of the posterior skullcap fragment from Sendang Klampok (Sangiran Dome, Java, Indonesia) among the Javanese Homo erectus record
Encephalizations and Cerebral Developments in Genus Homo
Biface Knapping Skill in the East African Acheulean
Homo heidelbergensis and The Origins of The Middle Stone Age
Social Sustainability, Past and Future
Framing the Question
Defining the Genus Homo
Defining the Genus Homo
Defining Homo erectus
Population Biology and Population Genetics of Pleistocene Hominins
Population Biology and Population Genetics of Pleistocene Hominins
Later Middle Pleistocene Homo
The Longest Transition or Multiple Revolutions
Defining the Genus Homo
Later Middle Pleistocene Homo
Defining Homo erectus
Later Middle Pleistocene Homo
From Past to Present
On the Road to China
Inquiries into Neanderthal craniofacial development and evolution
Cranial Shape in Asian Homo erectus
D Morphometric Study of the Mandibular Fossa and Its Implication for Species Recognition in Homo erectus
Midden or Molehill
Adaptive trait package for mind reading and language
African Eve
Comparative genetic approaches to the evolution of human brain and behavior
Le bassin de l’homme du Pléistocène supérieur de Liujiang, Sud de la Chine
Are we missing the “sweet spot” between optimality theory and niche construction theory in archaeology
Pandora's growing box
What kind of hominin first left Africa
Human display and dispersal
Absolute or proportional brain size
TT-OSL and post-IR IRSL dating of the Dali Man site in central China
The late Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil record of eastern Asia
The value of epistemic disagreement in scientific practice. The case of Homo floresiensis
A preliminary 3D computed tomography study of the human maxillary sinus and nasal cavity
The endocranial anatomy of maba 1
A description of the geological context, discrete traits, and linear morphometrics of the Middle Pleistocene hominin from Dali, Shaanxi Province, China
A multivariate assessment of the Dali hominin cranium from China
The torso integration hypothesis revisited in Homo sapiens
Endocranial cast of HexianHomo erectus from South China
Brain growth in modern humans using multiple developmental databases
Increasing breadth of the frontal lobe but decreasing height of the human brain between two Chinese samples from a Neolithic site and from living humans
Haplotype Trees and Modern Human Origins
Craniofacial skeletal response to encephalization
Estimating fossil hominin body mass from cranial variables
Assessing thoraco‐pelvic covariation in Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes
A new brain endocast of Homo erectus from Hulu Cave, Nanjing, China
The Dispersal of Denisovans and Neanderthals in China
Cultural mosaics, social structure, and identity
The taxonomic implications of cranial shape variation in Homo erectus
Assessing the accuracy of body mass estimation equations from pelvic and femoral variables among modern British women of known mass
Metric and non-metric randomization methods, geographic variation, and the single-species hypothesis for Asian and African Homo erectus
Variations and asymmetries in regional brain surface in the genus Homo
Variations in size, shape and asymmetries of the third frontal convolution in hominids
Paleoclimatic Variation and Brain Expansion during Human Evolution
Homo in the middle pleistocene
Estimating body mass from postcranial variables
Brain size at birth throughout human evolution
Brain ontogeny and life history in Homo erectus
The brain in hominid evolution
Body Size and Body Shape
A cranium for the earliest Europeans
Latest Homo erectus of Java
A complete human pelvis from the Middle Pleistocene of Spain
African Homo erectus
Relative brain size and basal metabolic rate in terrestrial vertebrates
The earliest Acheulean from Konso-Gardula
A Hominid from the Lower Pleistocene of Atapuerca, Spain
The Mauer mandible and the evolutionary significance of Homo heidelbergensis
Homo erectus Calvarium from the Pleistocene of Java
Modern human origins
Size and Scaling in Human Evolution
Three new human skulls from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site in Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain
Remains of Homo erectus from Bouri, Middle Awash, Ethiopia
Punctuated equilibria
The Human Genus
A hominid tibia from Middle Pleistocene sediments at Boxgrove, UK
The Sambungmacan 3 Homo erectus calvaria
The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution
Neandertals and modern humans in Western Asia.
The Evolution of Homo Erectus
The Sima de los Huesos crania (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). A comparative study
Paleoclimate and evolution, with emphasis on human origins
Human evolution in the Middle Pleistocene
How big were early hominids
Endocranial capacity of the Bodo cranium determined from three-dimensional computed tomography
Ancestors
Morphological comparison of archaic Homo sapiens crania from China and Africa
Hominid cranial capacity change through time
The Earlier Stone Age of Southern Africa
The significance of the fossil hominid skull from Petralona, Greece
Did Early Man reach Java during the Late Pliocene
Patterns of hominid evolution and dispersal in the Middle Pleistocene
The Sima de los Huesos Hominids Date to Beyond U/Th Equilibrium (>350 kyr) and Perhaps to 400–500 kyr
Integrative paths to the past. Paleoanthropological advances in honor of F. Clark Howell
Cranial variables as predictors of hominine body mass
The Indonesian Homo erectus brain endocasts revisited
The Lake Ndutu cranium and early Homo Sapiens in Africa
Cranial capacity evolution in Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens
Indonesian “Solo” (Ngandong) endocranial reconstructions
Paranthropus boisei
Volumetric and asymmetry determinations on recent hominid endocasts
A corrected reconstruction and interpretation of the Homo erectus calvaria from Ceprano, Italy
A re-appraisal of Ceprano calvaria affinities with Homo erectus, after the new reconstruction
Hominid behaviour and the earliest occupation of Europe
Some further notes on the morphology and dating of the Petralona hominid
Middle Pleistocene Prehistory in Southwestern Europe
Mode 3 Technologies and the Evolution of Modern Humans
The Middle Pleistocene human tibia from Boxgrove
ESR analysis of teeth from the palaeoanthropological site of Zhoukoudian, China
On the phylogenetic position of the pre-Neandertal specimen from Reilingen, Germany
A comparative study of stereolithographically modelled skulls of Petralona and Broken Hill
Bias in equations used to estimate fossil primate body mass
Extraterrestrial evidence on the age of the hominids from Java
Geology and preliminary dating of the hominid-bearing sedimentary fill of the Sima de los Huesos Chamber, Cueva Mayor of the Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain
ESR and U-series analyses of teeth from the palaeoanthropological site of Hexian, Anhui Province, China
Comparative context of Plio-Pleistocene hominin brain evolution
Behavioral ecological implications of early hominid body size
Dental remains from Atapuerca-TD6 (Gran Dolina site, Burgos, Spain)
The evolution of body mass and relative brain size in fossil hominids
Estimation of Body Mass in Paleontology
A calvarium of lateHomo erectusfrom Ceprano, Italy
Cranial growth inHomo erectus
The human cranium from Bodo, Ethiopia
Evidence from facial morphology for similarity of Asian and African representatives ofHhomo erectus
Australopithecus to Homo
The Skull of Lantian Man
| Unique citing works | 124 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,64 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 118 |