DDI--Cranial variation in Homo erectus

直立人传统上包括100-200万年前在印度尼西亚中国和东非遗址发现的化石。来自非洲和欧洲的新标本的发现重新引起了对该物种的科学关注，突显了我们在了解该物种的统一性、将特定标本归于该物种以及它与包括我们自己在内的后来物种的关系方面的重要差距。这项研究是使用三维几何形态测量技术对颅骨形状进行严格的统计检验。坐标地标数据将用微型机械数字化仪收集，并用一系列统计技术进行分析。这项研究将解决的问题包括：直立人的头骨形状变化与整体身体尺寸、地理和时间有何关系？大的和小的直立人个体有相似的头骨形状吗？非洲和亚洲的直立人有相似的头骨形状吗？如果颅骨形状存在地理差异，这些差异是随着距离的增加而逐渐增加，还是存在急剧的不连续？早期直立人和后来的直立人在颅骨形状上有什么相似之处？随着时间的推移，颅骨的形状是逐渐改变还是突然改变？这项研究得出的这些问题的答案将有助于我们更好地理解直立人在人类历史上的地位。此外，这些问题的答案与这套化石的分类位置直接相关。一些作者将它们全部归入智人，另一些作者将它们归入单一物种直立人，还有一些作者在这一组中识别出多个物种。遵循迈尔的生物物种概念，利用基于现代人、黑猩猩和东半球猴子(以及化石中的猿猴和类人猿)的物种内和物种间的预期变异模型，本研究将明确地评估这些早-中更新世化石人类的系统位置。这项研究的结果将适用于其他系统、分类和古生物学研究。这项研究的更广泛影响包括促进女性参与科学，促进国际合作，增强几何形态数据数据库，以及几何形态测量技术的国际转让。这项研究构成了这位合作者的博士论文研究；这项研究和她的博士学位的完成将增加女性在科学界的代表性。这项研究促进了国际联系和合作，这在当代古人类学研究中日益必要，而当代古人类学研究越来越多地由多国团队进行。NYCEP几何形态计量学小组将小组成员收集的所有数据建立数据库，以供今后重新分析和研究；本研究收集的数据将被添加到该数据库中。最后，虽然几何形态测量技术得到了更广泛的应用，但它们仍然是相对较新的技术。联合PI将在她的国际旅行中展示它们的使用，从而增加全球科学知识并建设基础设施。人类古生物学的工作成果引起了公众的广泛关注，并将在技术出版物和大众出版物中广泛传播。

Homo erectus traditionally includes fossils dating between 1-2 million years ago from sites in China, Indonesia, and East Africa. The discovery of new specimens from Africa and Europe has refocused scientific attention on this species, highlighting important gaps in our knowledge of the unity of this species, the attribution of particular specimens to this species, and its relation to later species, including our own. This study is a rigorous statistical examination of cranial shape using the techniques of three-dimensional (3D) geometric morphometrics. Coordinate landmark data will be collected with a Microscribe mechanical digitizer and analyzed with an array of statistical techniques. Questions that this study will address include: How is cranial shape variation in Homo erectus related to overall body size, geography, and time? Do large and small Homo erectus individuals have similar cranial shapes? Do Homo erectus individuals from Africa and Asia have similar cranial shape? If there are geographic differences in cranial shape, do these differences gradually increase with distance, or is there a sharp discontinuity? How similar are earlier and later Homo erectus in cranial shape? Over time, does cranial shape change gradually or abruptly? The answers to these questions resulting from this study will help us to better understand the place of Homo erectus in human history. Moreover, the answers to these questions are directly related to the taxonomic placement of this set of fossils. Some authors have included them all in Homo sapiens, other in the single species Homo erectus and still others have recognized multiple species within this group. Following Mayr's biological species concept, and using models of expected variation within and between species based on modern humans, chimpanzees and Old World monkeys (as well as fossil Theropithecus baboons and Paranthropus), this study will explicity evaluate the systematic placement of these Early-Middle Pleistocene fossil humans. The results of this research will be applicable to other systematic, taxonomic and paleontological studies.The broader impacts of this study include promotion of women in science, fostering of international collaboration, an enhanced database of geometric morphometric data, and the international transfer of geometric morphometric techniques. This study constitutes the co-PI's doctoral dissertation research; completion of this research and her doctorate will increase female representation in the sciences. This study promotes international ties and collaboration, increasingly necessary in the contemporary paleoanthropological research, which is increasingly conducted by multi-national teams. The NYCEP Geometric Morphometrics group databases all data collected by members of the group for future re-analysis and study; the data collected in this study will be added to that database. Finally, while geometric morphometric techniques are enjoying more widespread use, they are still relatively new. The co-PI will demonstrate their use during her international travels and thereby increase global scientific knowledge and build infrastructure. The results of work in human paleontology are of broad public interest and will be widely disseminated in both technical and popular publications.