Doctoral Dissertation Improvement for Danielle Royer: Omo 1 and Variation in Early Homo sapiens Postcranial Morphology

Danielle Royer 博士论文改进：Omo 1 和早期智人颅后形态学的变异

• 批准号: 0726115
• 负责人: Frederick Grine
• 金额: $ 1.49万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-07-15 至 2008-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0726115&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Danielle; Royer

Studies of the fossil skulls of early modern humans (EMH) suggest that these people were morphologically diverse, exhibiting a variable mosaic of modern and archaic features. However, the magnitude and pattern of EMH morphological diversity in the limb bones of the skeleton has been very poorly studied so far. This study will employ statistical methods to investigate variation in the skeletons of EMH fossils that date to between 195,000 and 25,000 years ago from numerous localities throughout Africa, Europe and the Near East. These analyses will determine the skeletal similarities between EMH from different geographic regions and time periods, and between EMH and several heat-adapted modern human populations including archaeological samples that permit an assessment of variation through time. The resultant morphological datasets will be analyzed to assess the impact of using different modern samples to resolve fossil relationships, and test whether EMH were more variable in their skeletons than living humans. Among these modern comparative samples are ones with considerable temporal depth, and this will permit assessment of morphological change or variability in a carefully controlled sample for the first time. In addition, this work will provide the first detailed analysis of the limb bone morphology of the Omo I fossil from Ethiopia, which dates to approximately 195,000 years ago, and represents the oldest currently known early modern human skeleton. To date, analyses of this important fossil have been limited to the anatomy of the skull.By focusing on limb bones, these comparisons will provide a new perspective on the biological transition to modernity that will compliment previous work on the skull. This study will broaden our knowledge of human skeletal variation, both past and present. As well as providing training for a female graduate student, this study constitutes a first step towards building future collaborations with under-represented researchers in Africa, and will help ensure that poorly-studied collections are maintained for future use. A large database of limb measurements from numerous human fossils and heat-adapted modern samples will be created and made freely available. Given the scarcity of accessible non-cranial morphological datasets, and the difficulties and expense of foreign research, these data will be extremely useful to future generations of researchers. Significantly, these databases will preserve important and irreplaceable scientific information that may soon be threatened by the repatriation of human skeletal collections worldwide.

对早期现代人（EMH）头骨化石的研究表明，这些人在形态上是多样的，表现出现代和古代特征的可变马赛克。 然而，EMH形态多样性的幅度和模式的四肢骨骼的骨骼一直很差的研究到目前为止。 这项研究将采用统计方法来调查EMH化石骨骼的变化，这些化石可以追溯到195，000到25，000年前，来自非洲，欧洲和近东的许多地方。 这些分析将确定来自不同地理区域和时间段的EMH之间的骨骼相似性，以及EMH与几个热适应现代人群之间的骨骼相似性，包括允许评估随时间变化的考古样本。 将对由此产生的形态数据集进行分析，以评估使用不同的现代样本来解决化石关系的影响，并测试EMH在骨骼中是否比活着的人类更多变。 在这些现代比较样品中，有一些具有相当的时间深度，这将首次允许在仔细控制的样品中评估形态变化或变异性。此外，这项工作将首次详细分析埃塞俄比亚Omo I化石的四肢骨骼形态，该化石可追溯到大约195，000年前，代表了目前已知的最古老的早期现代人类骨骼。 迄今为止，对这一重要化石的分析仅限于头骨的解剖。通过关注肢骨，这些比较将为生物向现代过渡提供一个新的视角，这将补充以前对头骨的研究。 这项研究将拓宽我们对人类骨骼变异的认识，包括过去和现在。除了为一名女研究生提供培训外，这项研究还为今后与非洲代表性不足的研究人员建立合作关系迈出了第一步，并将有助于确保保存研究不足的收藏品供今后使用。 将建立一个大型数据库，免费提供大量人类化石和热适应现代样本的肢体测量数据。 鉴于可访问的非颅骨形态数据集的稀缺性，以及国外研究的困难和费用，这些数据将对未来几代研究人员非常有用。 重要的是，这些数据库将保存重要和不可替代的科学信息，这些信息可能很快就会受到世界各地人类骨骼收集的遣返的威胁。