Showing papers in "Journal of Human Evolution in 2008"

TL;DR: The observed variations in past 14C levels are not as extreme as previously proposed, and the new chronological framework leaves ample room for application of radiocarbon dating in the age-range 45.0-25.0 ka 14C BP at high temporal resolution.

TL;DR: Delta18OP values of modern human teeth collected at 12 sites located at latitudes ranging from 4 degrees N to 70 degrees N together with the corresponding oxygen composition of tap waters from these areas were analyzed to investigate the impact of solid food consumption on the oxygen isotope composition of the total ingested water.

TL;DR: Results indicate that TL and (sometimes) IRSL are useful dating tools for karstic inwash sediments older than ca.

TL;DR: It is shown that basal metabolic rate (BMR) and gestation period are both positively correlated with brain size in primates, after controlling for the influence of body mass and potential effects of phylogenetic relatedness.

TL;DR: Because of the accuracy and phylogenetic insensitivity of the RFI among Euarchonta, this method can be applied to fossil primates and stem-primates and used to elucidate and compare their dietary preferences, important for developing a more detailed view of primate evolution.

TL;DR: The divergent molar characteristics of Pan troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus provide an instructive paradigm for examining the adaptive form-function relationship between molar enamel thickness and food hardness, and data reported, among the first reported for hominoid primates, fill an important empirical void for evaluating the mechanical plausibility of putative hominin food objects.

TL;DR: The results support the contention that the link between brain size and life history is caused by a balance between the costs of growing a brain and the survival benefits the brain provides, and suggest that the evolution of prolonged life history during human evolution is cause by increased encephalization.

TL;DR: It is shown that, measured via accurate high-resolution microtomographic imaging, Neandertal molar enamel is absolutely and relatively thinner than modern human enamel at most molar positions, but this difference relates to the ratio of coronal dentine volume to total crown volume, rather than the quantity of enamel per se.

TL;DR: This study focused on the detection of operational sequences by wild chimpanzees when nut cracking with lithic implements at the sites of Bossou and Diecké, Guinea, West Africa and identified the most technologically complex tool, which was composed of four stones.

TL;DR: Habitat reconstructions of 12 submembers of the Hadar and Busidima formations are presented here along with faunal differences in these submembers through time, showing Australopithecus afarensis from Laetoli through Hadar times appears to have been a eurytopic species.

TL;DR: In order to accurately assess tooth crown formation, previous studies of intact teeth have employed physical sectioning of tooth crowns to visualize the key relationship between cross-striations and Retzius lines: the periodicity of long-period lines, as well as the enamel secretion rate and cuspal enamel thickness.

TL;DR: The size of the adult brain can strongly predict the size ofThe neonatal brain in fossil hominins and predicts human brain size, indicating that humans have precisely the brain size expected as an adult given thesize of the brain at birth.

TL;DR: This study demonstrates that imaging the EDJ of both worn and unworn fossil hominin teeth provides a novel source of information about tooth development and variation in crown morphology.

TL;DR: The results highlight the need to replace static measurements of edge length that promote an illusion of efficiency with a more dynamic approach that takes the whole reduction sequence into account and the discovery that real gains in cutting-edge length per weight of stone are linked to surface area.

TL;DR: Analysis of three approximately 1.5 million-year-old archaeofaunas from areas 1A and 103 in the Okote Member of the Koobi Fora Formation, northern Kenya increases knowledge of the dietary behavior and ecology of Homo erectus, and provides support for variability in early Pleistocene hominin carcass foraging patterns.

TL;DR: The results indicate that the HP and post-HP MSA inhabitants of Sibudu Cave were capable hunters; however, hunting strategies appear to show marked variation over time, suggesting that the variability in animal procurement strategies reflects a degree of behavioral plasticity beyond that generally attributed to MSA populations.

TL;DR: Although the Dmanisi dental fossils show primitive morphology that resembles that seen in Australopithecus and H. habilis, they also display some derived characteristics, particularly in relation to dental reduction, resembling that seenin the dentition of H. erectus from the Far East.

TL;DR: A tentative model is suggested that links the exceptional environmental stress at 40,000 BP with processes already active in Paleolithic societies, leading to a period of accelerated change in cultural configurations.

TL;DR: The results show a clear distinction between the morphology seen in earlier hominin taxa such as Australopithecus and African early Homo, as well as Asian H. erectus, and more recent groups such as European H. heidelbergensis, neanderthalensis, and H. sapiens.

TL;DR: The preliminary radiometric dates reported here place the onset of the Acheulean at this site to approximately 1.6 Ma, which is roughly contemporaneous with that of East Africa.

TL;DR: Tephra layers in each member allow for secure correlation between geographically separated sections on the basis of the composition of their volcanic glass, and thin-bedded sedimentary layers probably represent annual deposition reflecting rapid sedimentation of parts of the formation.

TL;DR: This survey of dental microstructure studies reviews recent methods used to quantify developmental variables (daily secretion rate, periodicity of long-period lines, extension rate, formation time) and applications to the study of hominoid evolution and new methods for integrating nondestructive structural and developmental studies are highlighted.

TL;DR: New high-resolution magnetostratigraphic results that place stringent age controls on excavated hominin incisors and stone tools from the Yuanmou Basin, southwest China show the age of the earliest documented presence of Homo, with affinities to Homo erectus, in mainland East Asia.

TL;DR: Some of the observed variation in the predator-prey relationship of chimpanzees and army ants reflects environmental influences driven by the prey, while other variation is not linked to prey characteristics and may be solely sociocultural.

TL;DR: Evidence of carcass processing observed at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov resembles that seen in late Pleistocene sites in Israel, which were inhabited by modern humans, and is interpreted as indicating that the Acheulian hunters at the site possessed anatomical knowledge, considerable manual skill, impressive technological abilities, and foresight.

TL;DR: Variable atmospheric radiocarbon production contributes to the problems of dating the late Middle Paleolithic and the early Upper Paleolithic, and to help establish a reliable chronology for the Swabian Aurignacian, the dating program is beginning to focus on short-lived, stratigraphically secure features to see if they yield reproducible results.

TL;DR: A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of fossil material from the Trelew Member of the Sarmiento Formation suggests a more layered evolutionary pattern, with several independent extinct clades filling modern platyrrhine niche space, and modern platyrhine families and subfamilies appearing over a nine-million-year interval in the Miocene.

TL;DR: The (40)Ar/(39)Ar age measurements, together with correlations with sapropels, indicate that the hominin fossils are close in age to the older limit, making them the earliest well-dated anatomically modern humans yet described.

TL;DR: The late Pleistocene archaeological record of Sahul is explored for indications of cultural innovations at the earliest sites and it was found that following initial occupation of the continent by anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, the components were gradually assembled over a 30,000-year period.

TL;DR: The European chronometric record for the period between ca.