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- Title
- Experimental archaeology and hominid evolution: establishing a methodology for determining handedness in lithic materials as a proxy for cognitive evolution.
- Creator
- Ruck, Lana, Broadfield, Douglas C., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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Human handedness is likely related to brain lateralization and major cognitive innovations in human evolution. Identifying handedness in the archaeological record is, therefore, an important step in understanding our cognitive evolution. This thesis reports on experiments in identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage. I conducted a blind study on flakes (n=631) from Acheulean handaxes replicated by right- and left-handed flintknappers. Several flake characteristics significantly...
Show moreHuman handedness is likely related to brain lateralization and major cognitive innovations in human evolution. Identifying handedness in the archaeological record is, therefore, an important step in understanding our cognitive evolution. This thesis reports on experiments in identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage. I conducted a blind study on flakes (n=631) from Acheulean handaxes replicated by right- and left-handed flintknappers. Several flake characteristics significantly indicated handedness, with a binary logistic regression correctly predicting handedness for 71.7% of the flakes. However, other characteristics were not associated with handedness. This is a result of personal knapping styles, as additional analyses show that individual knappers associate with some attributes better than handedness does. Continued work on these methodologies will enable analysis of Paleolithic assemblages in the future, with the ultimate goal of tracking population-level hominid handedness rates through time and using them as a proxy for cognitive evolution and language acquisition.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004325, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004325
- Subject Headings
- Archaeology, Brain -- Evolution, Cerebral dominance, Cognition and culture, Flintknapping, Fossil hominids, Human evolution, Laterality
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Hominin endocast topography: an analysis using geographic information systems.
- Creator
- Boas, Melissa., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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This study examined the topography of prefrontal molds of human endocasts using three-dimensional laser scanning and geographic information systems (GIS) in order to carry out intra-species comparisons. Overall brain topography can indicate when major reorganizational shifts in brain structure happened in our evolutionalry history, and these shifts may indicate major shifts in cognition and behavior. Endocasts are one of the sole sources of information about extinct hominin brains ; they...
Show moreThis study examined the topography of prefrontal molds of human endocasts using three-dimensional laser scanning and geographic information systems (GIS) in order to carry out intra-species comparisons. Overall brain topography can indicate when major reorganizational shifts in brain structure happened in our evolutionalry history, and these shifts may indicate major shifts in cognition and behavior. Endocasts are one of the sole sources of information about extinct hominin brains ; they reproduce details of the brain's external morphology. Analysis of endocast morphology has never been done using GIS methodology. The use of GIS helps to overcome previous obstacles in regards to endocast analysis. Since this methodology is new, this research focuses on only one species, Homo sapiens and the area of focus is narrowed to the frontal lobe, specifically Broca's cap. This area is associated with speech in humans and is therefore of evolutionary significance. The variability in lateralization of this feature was quantified.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358286
- Subject Headings
- Human evolution, Brain mapping, Cognitive neuroscience, Geographic information systems
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The Paranthropus face: examining a developmental model.
- Creator
- Burdelsky, Brittany A., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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The Paranthropus head is characterized by features traditionally thought to be related to heavy chewing. McCollum [Science 284 (1999) : 301-305] proposed that palatal thickening is a response to developmental integration between the mandibular ramus, oral and nasal functional matrices, and the vomer, which inserts onto the premaxilla in Paranthropus and causes the palate to thicken instead of rotate during vertical expansion. I tested whether palate thickness increases as a byproduct of...
Show moreThe Paranthropus head is characterized by features traditionally thought to be related to heavy chewing. McCollum [Science 284 (1999) : 301-305] proposed that palatal thickening is a response to developmental integration between the mandibular ramus, oral and nasal functional matrices, and the vomer, which inserts onto the premaxilla in Paranthropus and causes the palate to thicken instead of rotate during vertical expansion. I tested whether palate thickness increases as a byproduct of differential increases in the sizes of the oral and nasal functional matrices compared to growth in the mandibular ramus. To do so, I collected 3D volume and landmark data from computed tomography (CT) scans of extant (Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus) and extinct taxa (Australopithecus and Paranthropus), and tested counterpart relationships for bones in the cranium using scaling analyses. Results suggest that developmental constraints related to growth counterpart relationships in the skulll are unlikely to affect palate thickness in the genus Paranthropus.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358331
- Subject Headings
- Physical anthropology, Fossil hominids, Craniology, Human evolution, Evolutionary genetics
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The timing of growth spurts in Neanderthals.
- Creator
- Lupo, Amy C., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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The timing of skeletal growth spurts in modern humans is unique among mammals. In modern humans, peak growth occurs after puberty during the adolescent period, whereas large-bodied non-human primates exhibit an earlier juvenile growth spurt. Based on limited data, previous researchers have suggested that Neanderthals experienced a late, modern human-like adolescent growth spurt. In this study, I examined the timing of stature and facial growth spurts in Neanderthals to test the hypothesis...
Show moreThe timing of skeletal growth spurts in modern humans is unique among mammals. In modern humans, peak growth occurs after puberty during the adolescent period, whereas large-bodied non-human primates exhibit an earlier juvenile growth spurt. Based on limited data, previous researchers have suggested that Neanderthals experienced a late, modern human-like adolescent growth spurt. In this study, I examined the timing of stature and facial growth spurts in Neanderthals to test the hypothesis that Neanderthals grew like modern humans. In order to assess the timing of Neanderthal growth spurts, I plotted a non-human primate regression estimate of age at puberty onto Neanderthal stature and mandibular velocity growth curves. The mandibular growth curve exhibits a discernible growth spurt after puberty, reminiscent of the modern human adolescent growth spurt. Future research on additional regions of the skeleton is necessary to further refine this estimate for the timing of Neanderthal growth spurts.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1930487
- Subject Headings
- Neanderthal race, Human evolution, Fossil hominids, Anthropometry, Physical anthropology
- Format
- Document (PDF)
