Showing papers by "Robert S. Corruccini published in 1980"
TL;DR: Genetic variance and heritability were estimated for a series of arch and occlusal traits in sixty twins using recently developed methods that are unbiased by variance heterogeneity between zygosities, suggesting considerable amounts of hidden environmental determinance.
131 citations
TL;DR: Quantification of individual crown features allows maximization of information retrieval from isolated hominid molars and establishes Australopithecus afarensis as the sister taxon of Homo and of later australopithecines.
42 citations
TL;DR: A morphological study is reported which indicates that the Lukeino molar has cusp proportions similar to the modern chimpanzee and the Lothagam Hill mandible is morphologically intermediate between modern pongids and A. afarensis.
Abstract: There are two principal hypotheses about the time of the emergence of the Hominidae, the family that includes man: first, the hominid lineage emerged before 16 Myr ago1–4; or second, living apes and man are so similar genetically that they must have diverged later5, perhaps as late as 5 Myr ago6,7. The first hypothesis is supported primarily by fossil evidence, whereas the second is championed by advocates of the molecular clock6,7. Hominid fossils are abundant back to 3.7 Myr (Australopithecus afarenesis)8 but are rare before that. Ramapithecus (16–8 Myr) was once classified as a member of Hominidae, but recent discoveries and interpretations show that it should be placed in its own family, Ramapithecidae9,10. Two fossil specimens classified as members of Hominidae predate A. afarensis, however: a lower molar from Lukeino in central Kenya dating to 6.5 Myr (KNM-LN 335)11 and a mandibular fragment from Lothagam Hill in north Kenya dated at 5–5.5 Myr (KNM-LT 329)12. Does their morphology justify classification as the first members of Hominidae? Their geological age is relatively secure. The Lukeino Formation which is up to 130m thick is bracketed by K/A dates of 7–5.4 Myr11. The deposits from which the Lothagam Hill mandible derives are disconformably overlain by an intrusive basalt sill with a K/A date of 3.7 Myr and are associated with mammalian fauna that yields a biostratigraphical age of 5–5.5 Myr12,13. We report here a morphological study which indicates that the Lukeino molar has cusp proportions similar to the modern chimpanzee and the Lothagam Hill mandible is morphologically intermediate between modern pongids and A. afarensis.
38 citations
TL;DR: This paper presents a monograph on “The Making of an Anthropologist: Foundations of Sociology and Anthropology, 2nd Ed.” (2003).
Abstract: ROBERT S. CORRUCCINI,' MARIETTA BABA,2 MORRIS GOODMAN,3 RUSSELL L. CIOCHON,4 AND JOHN E. CRONIN' 'Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901 2Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202 3Department of Anatomy, Wayne State University Medical School, Detroit, Michigan 48201 4Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina 28223 and 5Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
28 citations
TL;DR: Principal component analysis of Cartesian coordinates taken on the alae of one hundred human sacra reveals that allometric growth accounts for most variation in the extent and orientation of this region (termed basality).
Abstract: The great variability and complexity of sacral morphology has led to some confusion over the separate influences of phylogeny, population differences, and sexual dimorphism. Principal component analysis of Cartesian coordinates taken on the alae of one hundred human sacra reveals that allometric growth accounts for most variation in the extent and orientation of this region (termed basality). Sex differences related to functional contribution of the alae to the pelvic cavity account for the remainder of the variability. The requirement for extrastability in this region to support the large individual may obscure sexual dimorphism in the sacrum. This, in turn, may have influenced past observations on the sex criteria for this bone.
19 citations
TL;DR: Mandibular fossa size in a sample of slave skeletons excavated from a burial ground at Newton sugar plantation on Barbados represents a broad mixture of various populations imported from the west African coast and possibly a small number from southeast Africa.
Abstract: Hinton and Carlson (Am J Phys Anthrop 50: 325, 1979) have demonstrated a temporal trend of decreasing temporomandibular joint size in Nubian skeletons. Spanning a time range from 3400 B.C. to 1100 A.D., these populations show no evidence of genetic evolution, yet the size of the mandibular fossa of the cranium decreased by 5%. Hinton and Carlson attribute this decrease to gradual reduction of chewing stress, resulting from a change toward softer agriculturally-based dietary substances. We have similarly analyzed mandibular fossa size in a sample of slave skeletons excavated from a burial ground at Newton sugar plantation on Barbados. The burial population spans the period from about 1660 to 1820. Historical records indicate that it represents a broad mixture of various populations imported from the west African coast and possibly a small number from southeast Africa; records also suggest that, by the mid 1700's, the majority was born in Barbados and that, by the late 1700's and early 1800's, between 10 and 15% showed some European
17 citations
TL;DR: The early Miocene hominoids (Proconsul) are unlike modern great apes, but retain a primitive catarrhine pattern more similar to some extant cercopthecoids.
Abstract: The palatofacial morphology of Proconsul africanus, P. nyanzae, P. major and Sivapithecus meteai is compared to extant catarrhines. The early Miocene hominoids (Proconsul) are unlike modern great apes, but retain a primitive catarrhine pattern more similar to some extant cercopithecoids. By middle Miocene times the typical hominoid palatofacial morphology can be recognized in at least one species (S. meteai) and this corresponds to the evolution of the postcranium in which the hominoid pattern is also only recognizable by the middle Miocene.
15 citations
TL;DR: Human femoral neck length has a positive allometric or isometric relationship with total femoral length as shown by the reduced major axis slope based on logarithmic regression.
Abstract: Human femoral neck length has a positive allometric or isometric relationship with total femoral length as shown by the reduced major axis slope based on logarithmic regression. The relatively long femoral neck lengths of Australopithecus cannot be explained solely as a consequence of small body size (contra Wolpoff, '78).
8 citations