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Contributed by Erik Trinkaus, June 9, 2014 (sent for review April 30, 2014; reviewed by Rolf M. Quam and Fred H. Smith)
Significance
The assessment of the paleobiology and morphological affinities of the Neandertals and other Late Pleistocene archaic humans is central to resolving issues regarding the emergence and establishment of modern human morphology and diversity. One feature, which has been used as a distinctive Neandertal feature in this context, is the apparently derived shape of their temporal labyrinths (especially semicircular canals). Analysis of East Asian labyrinths documents the “Neandertal” pattern in the Xujiayao 15 temporal bone, although none of the Xujiayao human remains exhibits other distinctly Neandertal features. It therefore raises questions regarding possible biological correlates of labyrinthine morphology, distinctive Neandertal features, and the nature of late archaic human variation across Eurasia.
Abstract
One of the morphological features that has been identified as uniquely derived for the western Eurasian Neandertals concerns the relative sizes and positions of their semicircular canals. In particular, they exhibit a relatively small anterior canal, a relatively larger lateral one, and a more inferior position of the posterior one relative to the lateral one. These discussions have not included full paleontological data on eastern Eurasian Pleistocene human temporal labyrinths, which have the potential to provide a broader context for assessing Pleistocene Homo trait polarities. We present the temporal labyrinths of four eastern Eurasian Pleistocene Homo, one each of Early (Lantian 1), Middle (Hexian 1), and Late (Xujiayao 15) Pleistocene archaic humans and one early modern human (Liujiang 1). The labyrinths of the two earlier specimens and the most recent one conform to the proportions seen among western early and recent modern humans, reinforcing the modern human pattern as generally ancestral for the genus Homo. The labyrinth of Xujiayao 15 is in the middle of the Neandertal variation and separate from the other samples. This eastern Eurasian labyrinthine dichotomy occurs in the context of none of the distinctive Neandertal external temporal or other cranial features. As such, it raises questions regarding possible cranial and postcranial morphological correlates of Homo labyrinthine variation, the use of individual “Neandertal” features for documenting population affinities, and the nature of late archaic human variation across Eurasia.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: trinkaus{at}wustl.edu.
Author contributions: X.-J.W., I.C., W.L., and E.T. designed research; X.-J.W., I.C., S.X., and E.T. performed research; X.-J.W., I.C., S.X., and E.T. analyzed data; and X.-J.W., I.C., W.L., and E.T. wrote the paper.
Reviewers: R.M.Q., State University of New York at Binghamton; and F.H.S., Illinois State University.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1410735111/-/DCSupplemental.
Temporal labyrinths of eastern Pleistocene humans
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- Anthropology
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