A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia
A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia
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DOI：
10.1038/nature05047
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发表时间：
2006-09-21
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Wynn, Jonathan G.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alemseged, Zeresenay;Spoor, Fred;Wynn, Jonathan G.
了解个体发育的变化是研究人类进化的核心。除了尼安德特人，化石人类的生长模式尚未得到全面研究，因为化石记录目前缺乏记录年轻个体发育阶段的颅骨和颅后发育的标本。在这里，我们描述了一个保存完好的330万年前的南方古猿阿法种的少年部分骨骼发现在埃塞俄比亚的迪基卡研究领域。这只大约三岁的雌性的头骨显示，即使在这个早期发育阶段，该物种的大多数特征也是显而易见的。这一发现包括许多来自上新世人类记录的先前未知的骨骼元素，包括具有典型非洲猿形态的舌骨。来自下肢的脚和其他证据为双足运动提供了明确的证据，但大猩猩般的肩胛骨和长而弯曲的手指骨提出了关于A.阿法线虫运动功能
Understanding changes in ontogenetic development is central to the study of human evolution. With the exception of Neanderthals, the growth patterns of fossil hominins have not been studied comprehensively because the fossil record currently lacks specimens that document both cranial and postcranial development at young ontogenetic stages. Here we describe a well-preserved 3.3-million-year-old juvenile partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis discovered in the Dikika research area of Ethiopia. The skull of the approximately three-year-old presumed female shows that most features diagnostic of the species are evident even at this early stage of development. The find includes many previously unknown skeletal elements from the Pliocene hominin record, including a hyoid bone that has a typical African ape morphology. The foot and other evidence from the lower limb provide clear evidence for bipedal locomotion, but the gorilla-like scapula and long and curved manual phalanges raise new questions about the importance of arboreal behaviour in the A. afarensis locomotor repertoire.