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Mandibular size and shape variation in the hominins at Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia

Skinner, Matthew M., Gordon, Adam G., Collard, Nicole J. (2006) Mandibular size and shape variation in the hominins at Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia. Journal of Human Evolution, 51 (1). pp. 36-49. ISSN 0047-2484. (doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.01.006) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:48505)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.01.006

Abstract

The hominin fossils of Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia, present an ideal means of assessing levels of skeletal size and shape variation in a fossil hypodigm belonging to the genus Homo because they have been recovered from a spatially and temporally restricted context. We compare variation in mandible size and shape at Dmanisi to that of extant hominoids and extinct hominins. We use height and breadth measurements of the mandibular corpus at the first molar and the symphysis to assess size, and analyze shape based on size-adjusted (using a geometric mean) versions of these four variables. We compare size and shape variation at Dmanisi relative to all possible pairs of individuals within each comparative taxon using an exact resampling procedure of the ratio of D2600 to D211 and the average Euclidean distance (AED) between D2600 and D211, respectively. Comparisons to extant hominoids were conducted at both the specific and subspecific taxonomic levels and to extinct hominins by adopting both a more, and less speciose, hominin taxonomy. Results indicate that the pattern of variation for the Dmanisi hominins does not resemble that of any living species: they exhibit significantly more size variation when compared to modern humans, and they have significantly more corpus shape variation and size variation in corpus heights and overall mandible size than any extant ape species. When compared to fossil hominins they are also more dimorphic in size (although this result is influenced by the taxonomic hypothesis applied to the hominin fossil record). These results highlight the need to re-examine expectations of levels of sexual dimorphism in members of the genus Homo and to account for marked size and shape variation between D2600 and D211 under the prevailing view of a single hominin species at Dmanisi.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.01.006
Uncontrolled keywords: Intraspecific variation; Skeletal dimorphism; Early Homo; Hominin; Mandible size; Mandible shape; Exact randomization; Euclidean distance
Subjects: Q Science
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Matthew Skinner
Date Deposited: 15 May 2015 13:18 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:19 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/48505 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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