Revisiting the cranial variability of the Dmanisi hominins
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/1898-6773.87.2.06Keywords:
Homo erectus, Homo georgicus, Homo caucasi, paleoanthropologyAbstract
The Dmanisi specimens represent the most diverse contemporaneous hominin fossils found at one single site and are key in understanding the first out -of- Africa dispersal and the origins of Homo erectus. Due to these reasons, they have]e been the focus of many studies in paleoanthropology in the last 30 years. However, there has not been any consensus on how to classify these fossils, nor has it been clarified how many species were co-living at that site. In this article, we aim to revisit the subject and contribute further to the discussion.
Downloads
References
Agustí J. 2018. Evolution Of The ‘Homo’ Genus: New Mysteries And Perspectives. Mètode Science Studies Journal 8:71–77. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.8.9308 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.8.9308
Arsuaga JL, Martínez I, Gracia A, Lorenzo C. 1997. The Sima de los Huesos crania (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). A comparative study. J Hum Evol 33:219–281. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1997.0133 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1997.0133
Berger LR, De Ruiter DJ, Churchill SE, Schmid P, Carlson KJ, Dirks PH, Kibii JM. 2010. Australopithecus sediba: a new species of Homo-like australopith from South Africa. Science 328:195–204. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1184944 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1184944
Darroch JN, Mosimann JE. 1985. Canonical and principal components of shape. Biometrika 72(2):241–252. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/72.2.241 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/72.2.241
Ferring R, Oms O, Agustí J, Berna F, Nioradze M, Shelia T, et al. 2011. Earliest human occupations at Dmanisi (Georgian Caucasus) dated to 1.85–1.78 Ma. PNAS 108(26):10432–10436. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106638108 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106638108
Gabunia L, Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D, Swisher C, Ferring R, Justus A, et al. 2000. Earliest Pleistocene Hominid Cranial Remains from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia: Taxonomy, Geological Setting, and Age. Science. 288 (5468): 1019–1025. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5468.1019 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5468.1019
Gabunia L, De Lumley MA, Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D, De Lumley H. 2002. Découverte dun nouvel hominidé a Dmanissi (Transcaucasie, Géorgie). Comptes Rendus Palevol 1:242– 253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00032-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00032-5
Garcia T, Féraud G, Falguères C, De Lumley H, Perrenoud C, Lordkipanidze D. 2010. Earliest human remains in Eurasia: new 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Dmanisi hominid-bearing levels, Georgia. Quaternary Geochronology 5(4):443–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2009.09.012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2009.09.012
Guipert G, De Lumley MA, De Lumley H. 2014. Restauration virtuelle d’Arago 21. Comptes Rendus Palevol 13(1):51–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2013.07.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2013.07.004
Hubbe M, Harvati K, Neves W. 2011. Paleoamerican morphology in the context of European and East Asian late Pleistocene variation: Implications for human dispersion into the new world. AJBA 144:442–453. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21425 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21425
Isaac NJ, Mallet J, Mace GM. 2004. Taxonomic inflation: its influence on macroecology and conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 19(9):464–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.06.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.06.004
Kaifu Y, Aziz F, Indriati E, Jacob T, Kurniawan I, Baba H. 2008. Cranial morphology of Javanese Homo erectus: new evidence for continuous evolution, specialization, and terminal extinction. J Hum Evol 55(4):551–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.002
Laird MF, Schroeder L, Garvin HM, Scott JE, Dembo M., Radovčić D. et al. 2017. The skull of Homo naledi. J Hum Evol 104:100–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.009
Lordkipanidze D, Jashashvili T, Vekua A, De León MSP, Zollikofer CP, Rightmire GP, et al. 2007: Postcranial evidence from early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Nature 449(7160):305–310. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06134 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06134
Lordkipanidze D, Ponce De León MS, Margvelashvili A, Rak Y, Rightmire GP, Vekua A, Zollikofer CP. 2013. A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo. Science 342(6156):326–331. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238484 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238484
Lordkipanidze D. 2017. The History of Early Homo. In: M Tibayrenc, and FJ Ayala (eds.). On Human Nature: Biology, Psychology, Ethics, Politics, and Religion. Academic Press. pp. 45–54.
Lordkipanidze D, Vekua A, Ferring R, Rightmire GP, Agusti J, Kiladze G, et al. 2005. The earliest toothless hominin skull. Nature 434 (7034):717–718. https://doi.org/10.1038/434717b DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/434717b
Lordkipanidze D, Vekua A, Ferring R, Rightmire GP, Zollikofer CP, Ponce De León MS, et al. 2006. A fourth hominin skull from Dmanisi, Georgia. The Anatomical Record Part A. 288A(11):1146–1157. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.a.20379 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.a.20379
Lubsen KD, Corruccini RS. 2011. Morphometric analysis of the Herto cranium (BOU-VP-16/1): Where does it fit?. Journal of Contemporary Anthropology 2(1):1–16.
Meiri S, Mace GM. 2007. New taxonomy and the origin of species. PLoS Biology 5(7):e194. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050194 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050194
Mgladze A, Lordkipanidze D, Moncel M, Despriee J, Chagelishvili R, Nioradze M, Nioradze G. 2011. Hominin occupations at the Dmanisi site, Georgia, Southern Caucasus: Raw materials and technical behaviours of Europe’s first hominins”. J Hum Evol 60(5):571–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.10.008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.10.008
Neves WA, Bernardo DV. 2011. The first hominin of Europe: a multivariate exploratory analysis. Revista de Arqueologia 24(1):102–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.24885/sab.v24i1.317 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24885/sab.v24i1.317
Ni X, Ji Q, Wu W, Shao Q, Ji Y, Zhang C, et al. 2021. Massive cranium from Harbin in northeastern China establishes a new Middle Pleistocene human lineage. The Innovation 2(3): 100130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130
Rightmire GP. 1990. The evolution of Homo erectus: comparative anatomical studies of an extinct human species. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 157–168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511525674
Rightmire PG. 1996. The human cranium from Bodo, Ethiopia: evidence for speciation in the Middle Pleistocene? J Hum Evol 31(1):21–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006%2Fjhev.1996.0046 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2484(96)90046-9
Rightmire GP, De León MSP, Lordkipanidze D, Margvelashvili A, Zollikofer CP. 2017. Skull 5 from Dmanisi: Descriptive anatomy, comparative studies, and evolutionary significance. J Hum Evol 104:50–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.005
Rightmire GP, Margvelashvili A, Lordkipanidze D. 2018. Variation among the Dmanisi hominins: Multiple taxa or one species? Am J Phys Anthropol. 168(3): 481–495. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23759 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23759
Scardia G, Neves WA, Tattersall I, Blumrich L. 2020. What kind of hominin first left Africa?. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 30(2):122–127. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21863 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21863
Schwartz JH, Tattersall I, Zhang C. 2014. Comment on “A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo”. Science 344:360. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250056 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250056
Skinner MM, Gordon AD, Collard NJ. 2006. Mandibular size and shape variation in the hominins at Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia. J Hum Evol 51(1):36–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.01.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.01.006
Slowikowski K. 2023. ggrepel: automatically position non-overlapping text labels with “ggplot2”. Available at: https://github.com/slowkow/ggrepe
Stringer CB, Howell FC, Melentis JK. 1979. The significance of the fossil hominid skull from Petralona, Greece. Journal of Archaeological Science 6(3):235–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(79)90002-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(79)90002-5
Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D. 2010. Dmanisi (Georgia) – Site of Discovery of the Oldest Hominid in Eurasia. Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences 4(2):158–164.
Vekua A, Lordkipanidze D, Rightmire GP, Agusti J, Ferring R, Maisuradze G, et al. 2002. A new skull of early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Science 297(5578):85–89. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1072953 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1072953
Venables WN, Ripley BD. 2002. Modern Applied Statistics with S. Statistics and Computing, Springer. Weidenreich F. 1936. The mandibles of Sinanthropus pekinensis: A comparative study. Paleontologia Sinica, Ser. D 7:1–162. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-21706-2
Wickham H. 2016. ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag New York. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24277-4_9
Zollikofer CP, Ponce De Leon MS, Margvelashvili A, Rightmire GP, Lordkipanidze D. 2014. Response to Comment on “A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo”.Science344,360–360(2014). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250081. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250081
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 16-09-2024 (2)
- 01-07-2024 (1)
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.


