Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Human Growth Evolving: Integrating Skeletal, Dental, and Cranial Proxies of Growth to Understand Ontogeny in Pleistocene Genus Homo

博士论文改进：人类生长进化：整合骨骼、牙齿和颅骨生长代理以了解更新世人属的个体发育

• 批准号: 0925861
• 负责人: Susan Anton
• 金额: $ 0.99万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0925861&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Human; Growth

Modern humans are characterized by a very slow pattern of growth and development (i.e. ontogeny) compared to the closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. In hard tissues this trend is evident in late eruption of teeth and late attainment of skeletal maturity. This delayed maturation is necessary for the development of large brains, and mastering bipedal locomotion and language, but it is still uncertain when this pattern arose during the evolution of the human lineage. Most studies of modern human and fossil ontogeny have focused on either dental or skeletal development, using the other developmental system as an age proxy. However, for a proper understanding of the origins of the modern human ontogenetic pattern, and its implications for human evolution, it is critical to understand not only the relationship between dental and skeletal growth, but also the timing of developmental events.This study will address this issue by combining data on dental and skeletal growth and development in modern human skeletal samples from different geographic regions. It will include data on dental formation and eruption, several cranial maturity indicators, epiphyseal fusion, and long bone lengths and diameters, and relate them to chronological age wherever possible. Several Pleistocene fossils belonging to H. erectus, Neanderthals, and early H. sapiens, whose age-at-death will be estimated from dental microstructure, will be compared to modern humans of similar age to see whether they share a common pattern and timing of dental and/or skeletal growth and development.The broader implications of this study include the first attempt to compare dental and skeletal growth and development in fossils to a large and diverse modern human sample, and to relate it to chronological age. Furthermore, the large modern human sample will be useful for re-evaluation and refinement of osteological standards. This research will contribute to the doctoral dissertation and training of a female graduate student. Finally, this project will foster international collaboration between the United States and institutions in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

与现存的近亲黑猩猩相比，现代人类的特点是生长和发育模式非常缓慢（即个体发育）。在硬组织中，这种趋势在牙齿的晚出和骨骼成熟的晚达到是明显的。这种延迟成熟对于大脑的发育、掌握两足运动和语言是必要的，但这种模式在人类谱系的进化过程中何时出现仍不确定。大多数关于现代人和化石个体发生的研究都集中在牙齿或骨骼的发育上，使用另一个发育系统作为年龄代理。然而，为了正确理解现代人类个体发生模式的起源及其对人类进化的影响，不仅要了解牙齿和骨骼生长之间的关系，还要了解发育事件的时间。本研究将结合来自不同地理区域的现代人类骨骼样本的牙齿和骨骼生长和发育数据来解决这一问题。它将包括牙齿形成和萌出、几个颅成熟度指标、骨骺融合、长骨长度和直径的数据，并尽可能将它们与实足年龄联系起来。一些属于直立人、尼安德特人和早期智人的更新世化石将通过牙齿的微观结构来估计他们的死亡年龄，并将与年龄相近的现代人进行比较，看看他们是否有共同的牙齿和/或骨骼生长和发育的模式和时间。这项研究更广泛的意义包括首次尝试将化石中的牙齿和骨骼生长发育与大量不同的现代人样本进行比较，并将其与实际年龄联系起来。此外，大量的现代人样本将有助于重新评估和完善骨学标准。本研究将有助于博士论文和培养一名女研究生。最后，这个项目将促进美国与非洲、亚洲和欧洲机构之间的国际合作。