Physical Anthropology

A new visual method for the determination of sex using the human hip bone (os coxae) is proposed, based on a revision of several previous approaches which scored isolated characters of this bone. The efficacy of the methodology is tested on a sample of 402 adults of known sex and age of French and Portuguese origins. With the simultaneous use of five characters of the hip bone, it is possible to provide a correct sexual diagnosis in 95% of all cases, with an error of 2% and an inability to

Physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are associated with better cognitive function in late life, but the neural correlates for these relationships are unclear. To study these correlates, we examined the association of both PA and CRF with measures of white matter (WM) integrity in 88 healthy low-fit adults (age 60-78). Using accelerometry, we objectively measured sedentary behavior, light PA, and moderate to vigorous PA (MV-PA) over a week. We showed that greater MV-PA was related to lower volume of WM lesions. The association between PA and WM microstructural integrity (measured with diffusion tensor imaging) was region-specific: light PA was related to temporal WM, while sedentary behavior was associated with lower integrity in the parahippocampal WM. Our findings highlight that engaging in PA of various intensity in parallel with avoiding sedentariness are important in maintaining WM health in older age, supporting public health recommendations that emphasize the importance of active lifestyle.

Theoretical developments in sociocultural anthropology have transformed the study of kinship. Here, we review these theoretical developments, consider their influence on bioarchaeological kinship research, and propose an alternative framework for studying relatedness in antiquity. We find that broader, more flexible conceptions of relatedness have grown increasingly prevalent in 21st-century bioarchaeology, but kinship research largely continues to emphasize methodological improvement and identification of biological kin in archaeological contexts. By approaching kinship as a multiscalar dimension of social identity, bioarchaeologists can leverage complex conceptions of relatedness with diverse types of data to gain nuanced perspectives on family-based social organization in the past.

This paper explores the potential of high-resolution computed tomography (CT) as a morphometric tool in paleoanthropology. The accuracy of linear measurements of enamel thickness and cortical bone thickness taken from CT scans is evaluated by making comparison with measurements taken directly from physical sections. The measurements of cortical bone are taken on extant and fossil specimens with and without attached matrix, and the dental specimens studied include a sample of 12 extant human molars. Local CT numbers (representing X-ray attenuation) are used to determine the exact position of the boundaries of a structure. Using this technique most studied dimensions, including four of human molar enamel thickness, could be obtained from CT scans with a maximum error range of k O . 1 mm. The limitations of the method are discussed with special reference

Based on our knowledge of locomotor biomechanics and ecology we predict the locomotion and posture of the last common ancestors of (a) great and lesser apes and their close fossil relatives (hominoids); (b) chimpanzees, bonobos and modern humans (hominines); and (c) modern humans and their fossil relatives (hominins). We evaluate our propositions against the fossil record in the context of a broader review of evolution of the locomotor system from the earliest hominoids of modern aspect (crown hominoids) to early modern Homo sapiens. While some early East African stem hominoids were pronograde, it appears that the adaptations which best characterize the crown hominoids are orthogrady and an ability to abduct the arm above the shoulder -rather than, as is often thought, manual suspension sensu stricto . At 7-9 Ma (not much earlier than the likely 4-8 Ma divergence date for panins and hominins, see Bradley, 2008) there were crown hominoids in southern Europe which were adapted to moving in an orthograde posture, supported primarily on the hindlimb, in an arboreal, and possibly for Oreopithecus , a terrestrial context. By 7 Ma, Sahelanthropus provides evidence of a Central African hominin, panin or possibly gorilline adapted to orthogrady, and both orthogrady and habitually highly extended postures of the hip are evident in the arboreal East African protohominin Orrorin at 6 Ma. If the traditional idea that hominins passed through a terrestrial 'knuckle-walking' phase is correct, not only does it have to be explained how a quadrupedal gait typified by flexed postures of the hindlimb could have preadapted the body for the hominin acquisition of straight-legged erect bipedality, but we would have to accept a transition from stem-hominoid pronogrady to crown hominoid orthogrady, back again to pronogrady in the African apes and then back to orthogrady in hominins. Hand-assisted arboreal bipedality, which is part of a continuum of orthograde behaviours, is used by modern orangutans to forage among the small branches at the periphery of trees where the core hominoid dietary resource, ripe fruit, is most often to be found. Derivation of habitual terrestrial bipedality from arboreal handassisted bipedality requires fewer transitions, and is also kinematically and kinetically more parsimonious.

In the 1970s, mid-Pliocene hominin fossils were found at the sites of Hadar in Ethiopia and Laetoli in Tanzania. These samples constituted the first substantial evidence for hominins older than 3.0 Ma and were notable for some remarkable discoveries, such as the “Lucy” partial skeleton and the abundant remains from the A.L. 333 locality at Hadar and the hominin footprint trail at Laetoli. The Hadar and Laetoli fossils were ultimately assigned to the novel hominin species Australopithecus afarensis, which at the time was the most plesiomorphic and geologically ancient hominin taxon. The discovery and naming of A. afarensis coincided with important developments in theory and methodology in paleoanthropology; in addition, important fossil and genetic discoveries were changing expectations about hominin divergence dates from extant African apes. This coincidence of events ensured that A. afarensis figured prominently in the last 30 years of paleoanthropological research. Here, the 30+ year history of discovery, analysis, and interpretation of A. afarensis and its contexts are summarized and synthesized. Research on A. afarensis continues and subject areas in which further investigation is needed to resolve ongoing debates regarding the paleobiology of this species are highlighted. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 52:2–48, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

We have carried out a comprehensive ESR and U-series dating study on the Lake Mungo 3 (LM3) human skeleton. The isotopic Th/U and Pa/U ratios indicate that some minor uranium mobilization may have occurred in the past. Taking such effects into account, the best age estimate for the human skeleton is obtained through the combination of U-series and ESR analyses yielding 62,000±6000 years. This age is in close agreement with OSL age estimates on the sediment into which the skeleton was buried of 61,000±2000 years. Furthermore, we obtained a U-series age of 81,000±21,000 years for the calcitic matrix that was precipitated on the bones after burial. All age results are considerably older than the previously assumed age of LM3 and demonstrate the necessity for directly dating hominid remains. We conclude that the Lake Mungo 3 burial documents the earliest known human presence on the Australian continent. The age implies that people who were skeletally within the range of the present Australian indigenous population colonized the continent during or before oxygen isotope stage 4 (57,000–71,000 years).

Recent investigations into the origins of symbolism indicate that personal ornaments in the form of perforated marine shell beads were used in the Near East, North Africa, and SubSaharan Africa at least 35 ka earlier than any personal ornaments in Europe. Together with instances of pigment use, engravings, and formal bone tools, personal ornaments are used to support an early emergence of behavioral modernity in Africa, associated with the origin of our species and significantly predating the timing for its dispersal out of Africa. Criticisms have been leveled at the low numbers of recovered shells, the lack of secure dating evidence, and the fact that documented examples were not deliberately shaped. In this paper, we report on 25 additional shell beads from four Moroccan Middle Paleolithic sites. We review their stratigraphic and chronological contexts and address the issue of these shells having been deliberately modified and used. We detail the results of comparative analyses of modern, fossil, and archaeological assemblages and microscopic examinations of the Moroccan material. We conclude that Nassarius shells were consistently used for personal ornamentation in this region at the end of the last interglacial. Absence of ornaments at Middle Paleolithic sites postdating Marine Isotope Stage 5 raises the question of the possible role of climatic changes in the disappearance of this hallmark of symbolic behavior before its reinvention 40 ka ago. Our results suggest that further inquiry is necessary into the mechanisms of cultural transmission within early Homo sapiens populations.

Famed microbiologist René J. Dubos (1901-1982) was an early pioneer in the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) construct. In the 1960s, he conducted groundbreaking research concerning the ways in which early-life experience with nutrition, microbiota, stress, and other environmental variables could influence later-life health outcomes. He recognized the co-evolutionary relationship between microbiota and the human host. Almost 2 decades before the hygiene hypothesis, he suggested that children in developed nations were becoming too sanitized (vs. our ancestral past) and that scientists should determine whether the childhood environment should be "dirtied up in a controlled manner." He also argued that oft-celebrated growth chart increases via changes in the global food supply and dietary patterns should not be equated to quality of life and mental health. Here in the second part of our review, we reflect the words of Dubos off contemporary research findings in the areas of diet, the gut-brain-axis (microbiota and anxiety and depression) and microbial ecology. Finally, we argue, as Dubos did 40 years ago, that researchers should more closely examine the relevancy of silo-sequestered, reductionist findings in the larger picture of human quality of life. In the context of global climate change and the epidemiological transition, an allergy epidemic and psychosocial stress, our review suggests that discussions of natural environments, urbanization, biodiversity, microbiota, nutrition, and mental health, are often one in the same.

Descriptions of the morphological components of the female 0 s p u b i s , their developmental stages and age relations are presented in terms of formula scores following the method of McKern and Stewart ('57). It is noted that morphological development of females is different from that of males, and that females are subject to trauma of childbirth which may cause a n individual female os p u b i s to appear older than it actually is. As compared to the male os p u b i s , that of a female of the same age may appear to be ten years younger based upon the ventral rampart, and plateau.

The Acheulian is one of the first defined prehistoric techno-complexes and is characterized by shaped bifacial stone tools. It probably originated in Africa, spreading to Europe and Asia perhaps as early as ~1million years (Myr) ago. The origin of the Acheulian is thought to have closely coincided with major changes in human brain evolution, allowing for further technological developments. Nonetheless, the emergence of the Acheulian remains unclear because well-dated sites older than 1.4Myr ago are scarce. Here we report on the lithic assemblage and geological context for the Kokiselei 4 archaeological site from the Nachukui formation (West Turkana, Kenya) that bears characteristic early Acheulian tools and pushes the first appearance datum for this stone-age technology back to 1.76Myr ago. Moreover, co-occurrence of Oldowan and Acheulian artefacts at the Kokiselei site complex indicates that the two technologies are not mutually exclusive time-successive components of an evolving cultural lineage, and suggests that the Acheulian was either imported from another location yet to be identified or originated from Oldowan hominins at this vicinity. In either case, the Acheulian did not accompany the first human dispersal from Africa despite being available at the time. This may indicate that multiple groups of hominins distinguished by separate stone-tool-making behaviours and dispersal strategies coexisted in Africa at 1.76Myr ago.

Nontraditional or geometric morphometric methods have found wide application in the biological sciences, especially in anthropology, a field with a strong history of measurement of biological form. Controversy has arisen over which method is the "best" for quantifying the morphological difference between forms and for making proper statistical statements about the detected differences. This paper explains that many of these arguments are superfluous to the real issues that need to be understood by those wishing to apply morphometric methods to biological data. Validity, the ability of a method to find the correct answer, is rarely discussed and often ignored. We explain why demonstration of validity is a necessary step in the evaluation of methods used in morphometrics.

Cranial morphology is widely used to reconstruct evolutionary relationships, but its reliability in reflecting phylogeny and population history has been questioned. Some cranial regions, particularly the face and neurocranium, are believed to be influenced by the environment and prone to convergence. Others, such as the temporal bone, are thought to reflect more accurately phylogenetic relationships. Direct testing of these hypotheses was not possible until the advent of large genetic data sets. The few relevant studies in human populations have had intriguing but possibly conflicting results, probably partly due to methodological differences and to the small numbers of populations used. Here we use threedimensional (3D) geometric morphometrics methods to test explicitly the ability of cranial shape, size, and relative position/orientation of cranial regions to track population history and climate. Morphological distances among 13 recent human populations were calculated from four 3D landmark data sets, respectively reflecting facial, neurocranial, and temporal bone shape; shape and relative position; overall cranial shape; and centroid sizes. These distances were compared to neutral genetic and climatic distances among the same, or closely matched, populations. Results indicate that neurocranial and temporal bone shape track neutral genetic distances, while facial shape reflects climate; centroid size shows a weak association with climatic variables; and relative position/orientation of cranial regions does not appear correlated with any of these factors. Because different cranial regions preserve population history and climate signatures differentially, caution is suggested when using cranial anatomy for phylogenetic reconstruction.

While the pubic symphysis and intracortical morphometry have provided successful results in estimating age at death, other methods and sites in the skeleton are needed to improve the accuracy of age estimation. This research is an attempt to develop a new age-determination technique by using the sternal extremity of the rib. The right fourth rib was collected at autopsy from 93 white males. The sternal extremity of each rib was analyzed in relation to the pit depth (component 0, pit shape (component II), and rim

The purpose of this review is to provide a synoptic, critical evaluation of the evidence of, and potential etiological factors contributing to, sex differences in the expression of enamel hypoplasia (EH). Specifically, this review considers theoretical expectations and empirical evidence bearing on two central issues. The first of these is the impact of a theorized inherent male vulnerability to physiological stress on sex differences in EH. The second issue is the potential contribution to sex differences in EH of intrinsic differences in male and female enamel composition and development. To address this first issue, EH frequencies by sex are examined in samples subject to a high degree of physiological stress. Based on the concept of inherent male vulnerability (or female buffering), males in stressful environments would be expected to exhibit higher EH frequencies than females. This expectation is evaluated in light of cultural practices of sex-biased investment that mediate the relationship between environmental stress and EH expression. Defects forming prenatally afford an opportunity to study this relationship without the confounding effects of sex-biased postnatal investment. Data bearing on this issue derive from previously conducted studies of EH in permanent and deciduous teeth in both modern and archaeological samples as well as from new data on Indian schoolchildren. To address the second issue, fundamental male-female enamel differences are evaluated for their potential impact on EH expression. A large sex difference in the duration of canine crown formation in non-human primates suggests that male canines may have greater opportunity to record stress events than those of females. This expectation is examined in great apes, whose canines often record multiple episodes of stress and are sexually dimorphic in crown formation times. With respect to the first issue, in most studies, sex differences in EH prevalence are statistically nonsignificant. However, when sex differences are significant, there is a slight trend for them to be greater in males than in females, suggesting a weak influence of greater male vulnerability. Cultural practices of sex-biased investment in children appear to have greater impact on EH expression than does male vulnerability/female buffering. With respect to the second issue, sex differences in the composition and development of enamel were reviewed and determined to have limited or unknown impact on EH expression. Of these factors, only the duration of crown formation was expected to affect EH expression by sex within the great apes. The data support an association between higher defect counts in the canines of great ape males relative to those of females that may be the result of longer crown formation times in the canines of great ape males. This review concludes with an assessment of the nature of the evidence currently available to examine these issues and suggests future avenues for research focused on elucidating them.

Summary

This chapter contains sections titled:

    Introduction

    Origins of the Biocultural Approach

    The Biocultural Approach within Biological Anthropology and Bioarchaeology

    The Emergence and Development of a Bioculturally‐Oriented Bioarchaeology

    The Current State of Bioculturally‐Oriented Bioarchaeological Research

    Conclusion

    Acknowledgments

    Notes

    References

Recent controversies surrounding models of modern human origins have focused on among-group variation, particularly the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees from mitochondria1 DNA (mtDNA) and the dating of population divergence. Problems in tree estimation have been seen as weakening the case for a replacement model and favoring a multiregional evolution model. There has been less discussion of patterns of within-group variation, although the mtDNA evidence has consistently shown the greatest diversity within African populations. Problems of interpretation abound given the numerous factors that can influence within-group variation, including the possibility of earlier divergence, differences in population size, patterns of population expansion, and variation in migration rates. We present a model of within-group phenotypic variation and apply it to a large set of craniometric data representing major Old World geographic regions (57 measurements for 1,159 cases in four regions: Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Australasia, and the Far East). The model predicts a linear relationship between variation within populations (the average within-group variance) and variation between populations (the genetic distance of populations to pooled phenotypic means). On a global level this relationship should hold if the long-term effective population sizes of each region are correctly specified. Other potential effects on withingroup variation are accounted for by the model. Comparison of observed and expected variances under the assumption of equal effective sizes for four regions indicates significantly greater within-group variation in Africa and significantly less within-group variation in Europe. These results suggest that the long-term effective population size was greatest in Africa. Closer examination of the model suggests that the long-term African effective size was roughly three times that of any other geographic region. Using these estimates of relative population size, we present a method for analyzing ancient population structure, which provides estimates of ancient migration. This method allows us to reconstruct migration history between geographic regions after adjustment for the effect of genetic drift on interpopulational distances. Our results show a clear isolation of Africa from other regions. We then present a method that allows direct estimation of the ancient migration matrix, thus providing us with information on the actual extent of interregional migration. These methods also provide estimates of time frames necessary to reach genetic equilibrium. The ultimate goal is extracting as much

This paper reviews recent advances in field endocrinology, a focus as well as a method in primatology and behavioral ecology that permits the examination of social behavior and life history through hormonal investigations in natural settings. Endocrine data complements the traditional behavioral data collected by field scientists by providing quantitative measures for the examination of adaptive tradeoffs, costs of social strategies, and reproductive and social significance of mating events. Further, investigations of the physiological mechanisms of reproductive constraint provide tests of the adaptive significance of reproductive skew in cooperative and competitive breeders. Hormone data also can provide insights into the costs of competition and aggression and the role of temperament in individual reproductive success and the evolution of social systems. New, noninvasive methods for the collection of this information have augmented and expanded field endocrinology through the use of techniques that do not require potentially confounding physical or physiological manipulations. Specifically, urine and fecal samples can be collected from free-ranging animals and contain gonadal and adrenal hormones that parallel profiles of serum hormones. Sampling, preservation, extraction, and assay methods for the analysis of excreted steroids are reviewed along with the species and questions to which these methods have been applied.

This paper compares the statistical power of various tests that have been proposed to test for equality of shape in two populations. Power surfaces are computed with emphasis on the simplest case of three points in the plane (i.e., landmarks at the vertices of a triangle). Goodall's ([1991] J Roy Stat Soc Serb 53:285-339) F-test was found to have the highest power followed by T 2 -tests using Kendall tangent space coordinates. Power for T 2 -tests using Bookstein shape coordinates was good if the baseline was not the shortest side of the triangle. The Rao and Suryawanshi ([1996] Proc Natl Acad Sci 93:12132-12136 and [1998] Proc Natl Acad Sci 95:4121-4125) shape variables had much lower power when triangles were not close to being equilateral. Power surfaces for the EDMA-I T statistic revealed very low power for many shape comparisons including those between very different shapes. Power surface for the EDMA-II Z statistic were also complicated and depended strongly on the choice of baseline used for size scaling. The type I error rate was also often not correct for this method. Results for more than three landmarks are also presented. The implications of the results for practical applications of morphometrics are discussed. Am

A biomechanical analysis of the pelvic and femoral samples available for Australopithecus is presented. No feature of these samples was found to distinguish their gait pattern from that of modern man or to differ in the two presently recognized allomorphs of Australopithecus. Morphological differences between Australopithecus and modern man appear to be the result of different degrees of encephalization rather than any difference in locomotor adaptation.

The invention and development of next or second generation sequencing methods has resulted in a dramatic transformation of ancient DNA research and allowed shotgun sequencing of entire genomes from fossil specimens. However, although there are exceptions, most fossil specimens contain only low (~1% or less) percentages of endogenous DNA. The only skeletal element for which a systematically higher endogenous DNA content compared to other skeletal elements has been shown is the petrous part of the temporal bone. In this study we investigate whether (a) different parts of the petrous bone of archaeological human specimens give different percentages of endogenous DNA yields, (b) there are significant differences in average DNA read lengths, damage patterns and total DNA concentration, and (c) it is possible to obtain endogenous ancient DNA from petrous bones from hot environments. We carried out intra-petrous comparisons for ten petrous bones from specimens from Holocene archaeological contexts across Eurasia dated between 10,000-1,800 calibrated years before present (cal. BP). We obtained shotgun DNA sequences from three distinct areas within the petrous: a spongy part of trabecular bone (part A), the dense part of cortical bone encircling the osseous inner ear, or otic capsule (part B), and the dense part within the otic capsule (part C). Our results confirm that dense bone parts of the petrous bone can provide high endogenous aDNA yields and indicate that endogenous DNA fractions for part C can exceed those obtained for part B by up to 65-fold and those from part A PLOS ONE | Competing Interests: SAR is a self employed freelance osteologist. There are no patents, products by up to 177-fold, while total endogenous DNA concentrations are up to 126-fold and 109fold higher for these comparisons. Our results also show that while endogenous yields from part C were lower than 1% for samples from hot (both arid and humid) parts, the DNA damage patterns indicate that at least some of the reads originate from ancient DNA molecules, potentially enabling ancient DNA analyses of samples from hot regions that are otherwise not amenable to ancient DNA analyses.

We analyzed admixture in samples of six different African-American populations from South Carolina: Gullah-speaking Sea Islanders in coastal South Carolina, residents of four counties in the "Low Country" (Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, and Dorchester), and persons living in the city of Columbia, located in central South Carolina. We used a battery of highly informative autosomal, mtDNA, and Y-chromosome markers. Two of the autosomal markers (FY and AT3) are linked and lie 22 cM apart on chromosome 1. The results of this study indicate, in accordance with previous historical, cultural, and anthropological evidence, a very low level of European admixture in the Gullah Sea Islanders (m ϭ 3.5 Ϯ 0.9%). The proportion of European admixture is higher in the Low Country (m ranging between 9.9 Ϯ 1.8% and 14.0 Ϯ 1.9%), and is highest in Columbia (m ϭ 17.7 Ϯ 3.1%). A

Objectives: We examine the prevalence and sociodemographic risk factors of skeletal indicators of stress in forensic samples of undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America.

Materials and methods: Cranial and dental remains of 319 migrants recovered in the Arizona and Texas borderlands were assessed for porotic hyperostosis (PH), cribra orbitalia (CO), and linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH). Logistic regression models for each condition were estimated to test for associations with biological sex, age, recovery location, and whether individuals were identified. Additional models estimated for a subsample of identified migrants included region of origin, residential context, and community indigeneity.

Results: The full sample shows moderate crude prevalence of CO (9.6%) and LEH (34.1%), and a high prevalence of PH (49.6%). Significantly higher odds of PH are associated with being male (2.16 times higher), unidentified (1.89 times higher), and recovered in Arizona (3.76 times higher). Among identified migrants, we fail to find associations significant at the p < 0.05 level between skeletal stress and all sociodemographic variables except age.

Discussion: The factors associated with PH may be related to influences on decisions to migrate and diversity among migrant sending regions. The skeletal evidence for early life stress is generally consistent with common public health concerns among impoverished communities in the region. The lesions themselves are viewed as embodied risk of physiological disturbance when resource access is structured by higher-level social, economic, and political forces. Forensic anthropologists would benefit from increased sensitivity to embodied structural violence among the vulnerable individuals and communities they serve.

Most anthropologists have abandoned the concept of race as a research tool and as a valid representation of human biological diversity. Yet, race identification continues to be one of the central foci of forensic anthropological casework and research. It is maintained in this paper that the successful assignment of race to a skeletal specimen is not a vindication of the race concept, but rather a prediction that an individual, while alive was assigned to a particular socially constructed 'racial' category. A specimen may display features that point to African ancestry. In this country that person is likely to have been labeled Black regardless of whether or not such a race actually exists in nature.

The classic anthropological hypothesis known as the &quot;obstetrical dilemma&quot; is a well-known explanation for human altriciality, a condition that has significant implications for human social and behavioral evolution. The hypothesis holds that antagonistic selection for a large neonatal brain and a narrow, bipedal-adapted birth canal poses a problem for childbirth; the hominin &quot;solution&quot; is to truncate gestation, resulting in an altricial neonate. This explanation for human altriciality based on pelvic constraints persists despite data linking human life history to that of other species. Here, we present evidence that challenges the importance of pelvic morphology and mechanics in the evolution of human gestation and altriciality. Instead, our analyses suggest that limits to maternal metabolism are the primary constraints on human gestation length and fetal growth. Although pelvic remodeling and encephalization during hominin evolution contributed to the present par...

The estimation of body size among the earliest members of the genus Homo (2.4e1.5 Myr [millions of years ago]) is central to interpretations of their biology. It is widely accepted that Homo ergaster possessed increased body size compared with Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, and that this may have been a factor involved with the dispersal of Homo out of Africa. The study of taxonomic differences in body size, however, is problematic. Postcranial remains are rarely associated with craniodental fossils, and taxonomic attributions frequently rest upon the size of skeletal elements. Previous body size estimates have been based upon well-preserved specimens with a more reliable species assessment. Since these samples are small (n < 5) and disparate in space and time, little is known about geographical and chronological variation in body size within early Homo.

The primate body hosts trillions of microbes. Interactions between primate hosts and these microbes profoundly affect primate physiology, reproduction, health, survival, and ultimately, evolution. It is increasingly clear that primate health cannot be understood fully without knowledge of host-microbial interactions. Our goals here are to review what is known about microbiomes of the female reproductive tract and to explore several factors that influence variation within individuals, as well as within and between primate species. Much of our knowledge of microbial variation derives from studies of humans, and from microbes located in nonreproductive regions (e.g., the gut). We review work suggesting that the vaginal microbiota affects female health, fecundity, and pregnancy outcomes, demonstrating the selective potential for these agents. We explore the factors that correlate with microbial variation within species. Initial colonization by microbes depends on the manner of birth; most microbial

The Asian apes, more than any other, are restricted to an arboreal habitat. They are consequently an important model in the interpretation of the morphological commonalities of the apes, which are locomotor features associated with arboreal living. This paper presents a detailed analysis of orangutan positional behavior for all age-

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. While requisite preparative and analytical methods are time consuming, benefits include more precise identification of tooth crown initiation and completion than conventional radiographic approaches. Furthermore, incremental features facilitate highly accurate estimates of the speed and duration of crown and root formation, stress experienced during development (including birth), and age at death. These approaches have provided insight into fossil hominin and Miocene hominoid life histories, and have also been applied to ontogenetic and taxonomic studies of fossil apes and humans. It is shown here that, due to the rapidly evolving nature of dental microstructure studies, numerous methods have been applied over the past few decades to characterize the rate and duration of dental development. Yet, it is often unclear whether data derived from different methods are comparable or which methods are the most accurate. Areas for future research are identified, including the need for validation and standardization of certain methods, and new methods for integrating nondestructive structural and developmental studies are highlighted.

For the individual, coordination between tooth and jaw development is important to proper food acquisition and ingestion later in life. Among and within species, variation in dental and gnathic size, shape, and, in the case of teeth, number, must be mutually accommodating and functionally compatible. For these reasons, the development and evolution of these two systems should be closely integrated. Furthermore, the timing of dental development correlates tightly with life history events such as weaning. This correlation hints at a central regulation of the developmental timing of multiple systems that have tandem effects on physiology and behaviour. Important work on embryonic oral development continues to tease apart the molecular mechanisms that pattern jaw identity and establish tooth morphology and position in the alveolar bone. Still very poorly understood is what underlies rates and periods of gene activity such that pre-and postnatal tooth and jaw development are coordinated. Recent literature suggests at least some level of autonomy between permanent tooth and mandibular ontogenetic timing. However, whether the timing of these various signaling pathways is directly regulated or is an outcome of the pathways themselves is untested. Here, we review what is currently known about the embryonic signaling pathways that regulate tooth and jaw development in the context of time rather than space, as has been traditional. We hypothesize that the timing of mandibular and dental development is not directly mediated by a common factor but is an indirect outcome of strong selection for coordinated molecular pathways and growth trajectories. The mandible and lower jaw dentition is a powerful model with which to investigate the mechanisms that facilitate morphological change-in this case, the development and evolution-of organs that are closely integrated in terms of function, space and time. Developmental Dynamics 237:1-17, 2008.

Human hunting is arguably one of the most difficult activities common to foraging peoples now and in the past. Children and teenagers have usually been described as incompetent hunters in ethnographies of hunter-gatherers. This paper explores the extent to which adult-level competence is limited more by the constraints of physical capital, or body size, and brain-based capital, or skills and learning. The grandmother hypothesis requires that production is an increasing function of size alone, while the embodied capital model stipulates that production is a function of both size and delayed learning. Tests based on observational, interview, and experimental data collected among Tsimane Amerindians of the Bolivian Amazon suggest that size alone cannot explain the long delay until peak hunting productivity. Indirect encounters (e.g., smells, sounds, tracks, and scat) and shooting of stationary targets are two components of hunting ability limited primarily by physical size alone, but the more difficult components of huntingddirect encounters with important prey items and successful capturedrequire substantial skill. Those skills can take an additional ten to twenty years to develop after achieving adult body size.

The origin of Aboriginal Australians has been a central question of palaeoanthropology since its inception during the 19th Century. Moreover, the idea that Australians could trace their ancestry to a non-modern Pleistocene population such as Homo erectus in Southeast Asia have existed for more than 100 years, being explicitly linked to cranial robusticity. It is argued here that in order to resolve this issue a new program of research should be embraced, one aiming to test the full range of alternative explanations for robust morphology. Recent developments in the morphological sciences, especially relating to the ontogeny of the cranium indicate that character atomisation, an approach underpinning phylogenetic reconstruction, is fraught with difficulties. This leads
to the conclusion that phylogenetic-based explanations for robusticity should be reconsidered and a more parsimonious approach to explaining Aboriginal Australian origins taken. One that takes proper account of the complex processes involved in the growth of the human cranium rather than just assuming natural selection to explain every subtle variation seen in past populations. In doing so, the null hypothesis that robusticity might result from phenotypic plasticity alone cannot be rejected, a position at odds with both reticulate and deep-time continuity models of Australian origins.

Interdisciplinary research has benefitted the fields of anthropology and engineering for decades: a classic example being the application of material science to the field of feeding biomechanics. However, after decades of research, discordances have developed in how mechanical properties are defined, measured, calculated, and used due to disharmonies between and within fields. This is highlighted by "toughness," or energy release rate, the comparison of incomparable tests (i.e., the scissors and wedge tests), and the comparison of incomparable metrics (i.e., the stress and displacement-limited indices). Furthermore, while material scientists report on a myriad of mechanical properties, it is common for feeding biomechanics studies to report on just one (energy release rate) or two (energy release rate and Young's modulus), which may or may not be the most appropriate for understanding feeding mechanics. Here, I review portions of materials science important to feeding biomechanists, discussing some of the basic assumptions, tests, and measurements. Next, I provide an overview of what is mechanically important during feeding, and discuss the application of mechanical property tests to feeding biomechanics. I also explain how 1) toughness measures gathered with the scissors, wedge, razor, and/or punch and die tests on non-linearly elastic brittle materials are not mechanical properties, 2) scissors and wedge tests are not comparable and 3) the stress and displacement-limited indices are not comparable. Finally, I discuss what data gathered thus far can be best used for, and discuss the future of the field, urging researchers to challenge underlying assumptions in currently used methods to gain a better understanding between primate masticatory morphology and diet.

A number of important insights into the peopling of the New World have been gained through molecular genetic studies of Siberian and Native American populations. While there is no complete agreement on the interpretation of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (NRY) data from these groups, several generalizations can be made. To begin with, the primary migration of ancestral Asians expanded from south-central Siberia into the New World and gave rise to ancestral Amerindians. The initial migration seems to have occurred between 20,000–15,000 calendar years before present (cal BP), i.e., before the emergence of Clovis lithic sites (13,350–12,895 cal BP) in North America. Because an interior route through northern North America was unavailable for human passage until 12,550 cal BP, after the last glacial maximum (LGM), these ancestral groups must have used a coastal route to reach South America by 14,675 cal BP, the date of the Monte Verde site in southern Chile. The initial migration appears to have brought mtDNA haplogroups A-D and NRY haplogroups P-M45a and Q-242/Q-M3 to the New World, with these genetic lineages becoming widespread in the Americas. A second expansion that perhaps coincided with the opening of the ice-free corridor probably brought mtDNA haplogroup X and NRY haplogroups P-M45b, C-M130, and R1a1-M17 to North and Central America. Finally, populations that formerly inhabited Beringia expanded into northern North America after the LGM, and gave rise to Eskimo-Aleuts and Na-Dené Indians. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 16:420–439, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Lagoa Santa recorded 12,500 years of non-continuous human occupation in cavities and open air sites. For the early-and middle Holocene occupations, lithic technology , zooarchaeology, osteological markers and multi-isotopic analyses indicate groups of foragers with low mobility and a subsistence strategy focused on gathering plant foods and hunting small and mid-sized animals but no megafauna. A high frequency of caries is observed among women. Lithics include small flakes and cores of quartz. Artefacts like projectile points and axe blades occur marginally. Funerary rituals included primary burials (10.3–10.6 cal kyBP), reduction of the body followed by secondary burial (9.4–9.6 cal kyBP) and pits filled with disarticulated and fragmented bones of a single individual (8.2–8.6 cal kyBP). Rock art abounds, including the oldest securely dated case of South America (10.5 cal kyBP). Representations include animals, filiform anthropomorphs, geometric motifs, manioc’s tubers and semi-lunar axes. Similar styles are found over a large area of Brazil. Ancient DNA extracted from several early Holocene skeletons indicates they are entirely nested within past and present Native American genetic diversity. Pottery arrives during the late Holocene with undecorated vessels of varying sizes (0.2–417 L), tubular pipes, spindle whorls, highly polished axes and ritual semi-lunar axes (Aratu-Sapucaí-Una Tradition). In the site ‘Vereda III’, more than 3,000 in situ sherds indicate repeated use for ritual feasts centred on fermented beverages: (maize?). Polychrome pottery occurring in low frequency testify to the late presence of Tupi-speaking groups. During the colonial period, Lagoa Santa housed large haciendas for cattle and agriculture, resulting in the formation of large farms with thousands of enslaved people. Stub-stemmed earthenware pipes from the nineteenth century, an important element of African diasporic identities, were produced in the region.

This study evaluated chronological changes in physiological stress and levels of habitual loading of Ibizan populations from the Late Roman–Early Byzantine (LREB) to the Islamic period (300–1,235 AD) using measures of body size and bone cross‐sectional properties to compare Urban LREB, Urban Medieval Islamic, and Rural Medieval Islamic groups. It also explored the effect of diet, modeled using stable isotopes, on physiological stress levels and behavior. The sample comprised individuals from three archeological populations: Urban Late Roman‐ Early Byzantine (LREB) (300–700 AD), Medieval Urban Islamic (902–1,235 AD), and Medieval Rural Islamic. Bone lengths, femoral head dimensions, and cross‐sectional properties, diaphyseal products and circumferences, were compared to assess differences in body size and habitual loading in 222 adult individuals. Ordinary least squares regression evaluated the correlations between these measures and carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope ratios in 115 individuals for whom both isotope values and osteological measures are available. The Medieval Rural Islamic group had shorter stature and reduced lower limb cross‐sectional properties compared to the two urban groups. Limb shape differs between Urban LREB and Urban Medieval Islamic groups. Measures of body size length were positively correlated with δ13C values in all individuals and separately in the Urban LREB and Rural Medieval Islamic groups. δ15N showed a positive correlation with left humerus shape in the Urban LREB sample. The low stature and cross‐sectional properties of the Medieval Rural Islamic group may be an indicator of greater physiological stress, potentially due to poorer diet. Positive correlations between measures of body size and δ13C values further suggest that greater access to C4 resources improved diet quality. Alternatively, this relationship could indicate greater body size among migrants from areas where individuals consumed more C4 resources.

The generalized/primitive nature of the hominoid dentition and often fragmentary nature of fossils, coupled with enthusiastic optimism for making revolutionary finds, has wreaked havoc with recognition of early human ancestors and reconstruction of fossil hominoid phylogeny. As such, the history of paleoanthropology is one of repeated misidentification of fossil ancestors and of occasional fraud. Although this history has led many workers to lose confidence in morphology based systematics (MBS), past and present misidentifications are actually due to a disregard of systematic methodology. Systematics depends on the continuity of life and gains its objectivity largely from the order alpha taxonomy imposes on morphologic discontinuities in closely related taxa (i.e., species and genera). Transformation of characters fixed in species into character complexes, as manifested in taxa nested at different levels of relationship, form the foundation for higher-level taxonomy and for phylogeny. Because in most cases, hominoid fossils are unable to provide the data needed to resolve alpha taxonomy, classification and phylogeny of fossil taxa must be guided by analogies to living taxa. Hominid and hominoid fossil taxonomy and phylogeny, however, has been based largely on preevolutionary notions and on misinterpretations of the polarity of assumed diagnostic characters. More often than not, fossils lack resolution for the taxonomic level or rank they are assigned to and taxa are erected without appropriate analogies to living forms. As such, phylogenies based on these classifications are unlikely to be correct. More in-depth anatomical studies that are in accordance with systematic methodology are likely to hold the key to correctly classifying fossils and unraveling hominoid and hominid phylogeny.