Kieran P. McNulty

TL;DR: The hypothesis that Neanderthals represent a subspecies of H. sapiens is tested by comparing the degree of their morphological differentiation from modern humans to that found within and between 12 species of extant primates.

TL;DR: Results from the whole cranium demonstrated that aspects of facial morphology associated with smaller size converge on modern human morphology, suggesting that facial similarities between LB1 and anatomically modern humans may not be indicative of a close relationship.

TL;DR: The Wasiriya Beds of Rusinga Island, Kenya, preserve a Pleistocene sedimentary archive with radiocarbon age estimates of >33-45 ka that contains Middle Stone Age artifacts and abundant, well-preserved fossil fauna: a co-occurrence rare in eastern Africa, particularly in the region bounding Lake Victoria.

TL;DR: Developmental simulation estimates the adult form of the Taung child and directly compares its morphology to that of other fossil hominins, indicating that morphology already present by occlusion of the first permanent molar is the primary determinant of adult form and supporting use of extant trajectories to estimate the morphology of an extinct species.

TL;DR: While multivariate methods offered clear advantages over univariate or bivariate representations of shape, the analysis of traditional morphometric measures such as linear distances, angles, and ratios, has limitations when it comes to quantifying the complex geometry of some anatomical structures.