Modern humans have large and globular brains that distinguish them from their extinct Homo relatives. The characteristic globularity develops during a prenatal and early postnatal period of rapid brain growth critical for neural wiring and cognitive development. However, it remains unknown when and how brain globularity evolved and how it relates to evolutionary brain size increase. On the basis of computed tomographic scans and geometric morphometric analyses, we analyzed endocranial casts of Homo sapiens fossils (N = 20) from different time periods. Our data show that, 300,000 years ago, brain size in early H. sapiens already fell within the range of present-day humans. Brain shape, however, evolved gradually within the H. sapiens lineage, reaching present-day human variation between about 100,000 and 35,000 years ago. This process started only after other key features of craniofacial morphology appeared modern and paralleled the emergence of behavioral modernity as seen from the archeological record. Our findings are consistent with important genetic changes affecting early brain development within the H. sapiens lineage since the origin of the species and before the transition to the Later Stone Age and the Upper Paleolithic that mark full behavioral modernity.
Description
The evolution of modern human brain shape | Science Advances
%0 Journal Article
%1 Neubauer_2018
%A Neubauer, Simon
%A Hublin, Jean-Jacques
%A Gunz, Philipp
%D 2018
%I American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
%J Science Advances
%K 2018 biology brain human research shape
%N 1
%P eaao5961
%R 10.1126/sciadv.aao5961
%T The evolution of modern human brain shape
%U https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.aao5961
%V 4
%X Modern humans have large and globular brains that distinguish them from their extinct Homo relatives. The characteristic globularity develops during a prenatal and early postnatal period of rapid brain growth critical for neural wiring and cognitive development. However, it remains unknown when and how brain globularity evolved and how it relates to evolutionary brain size increase. On the basis of computed tomographic scans and geometric morphometric analyses, we analyzed endocranial casts of Homo sapiens fossils (N = 20) from different time periods. Our data show that, 300,000 years ago, brain size in early H. sapiens already fell within the range of present-day humans. Brain shape, however, evolved gradually within the H. sapiens lineage, reaching present-day human variation between about 100,000 and 35,000 years ago. This process started only after other key features of craniofacial morphology appeared modern and paralleled the emergence of behavioral modernity as seen from the archeological record. Our findings are consistent with important genetic changes affecting early brain development within the H. sapiens lineage since the origin of the species and before the transition to the Later Stone Age and the Upper Paleolithic that mark full behavioral modernity.
@article{Neubauer_2018,
abstract = {Modern humans have large and globular brains that distinguish them from their extinct Homo relatives. The characteristic globularity develops during a prenatal and early postnatal period of rapid brain growth critical for neural wiring and cognitive development. However, it remains unknown when and how brain globularity evolved and how it relates to evolutionary brain size increase. On the basis of computed tomographic scans and geometric morphometric analyses, we analyzed endocranial casts of Homo sapiens fossils (N = 20) from different time periods. Our data show that, 300,000 years ago, brain size in early H. sapiens already fell within the range of present-day humans. Brain shape, however, evolved gradually within the H. sapiens lineage, reaching present-day human variation between about 100,000 and 35,000 years ago. This process started only after other key features of craniofacial morphology appeared modern and paralleled the emergence of behavioral modernity as seen from the archeological record. Our findings are consistent with important genetic changes affecting early brain development within the H. sapiens lineage since the origin of the species and before the transition to the Later Stone Age and the Upper Paleolithic that mark full behavioral modernity.},
added-at = {2018-05-17T15:58:10.000+0200},
author = {Neubauer, Simon and Hublin, Jean-Jacques and Gunz, Philipp},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2a60df06debf3e9f0f1eef272a183302c/achakraborty},
description = {The evolution of modern human brain shape | Science Advances},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aao5961},
interhash = {d8af21af74de7e0362e55dbcebabe32d},
intrahash = {a60df06debf3e9f0f1eef272a183302c},
journal = {Science Advances},
keywords = {2018 biology brain human research shape},
month = jan,
number = 1,
pages = {eaao5961},
publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)},
timestamp = {2018-05-17T15:58:10.000+0200},
title = {The evolution of modern human brain shape},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.aao5961},
volume = 4,
year = 2018
}