Morphological diversity in Neanderthal and modern human skeleton as viewed from Dederiyeh Neanderthal

对2名来自叙利亚的约2岁的德德里耶尼安德特人儿童与其他尼安德特人(N=10)、斯库尔-卡夫泽(N=4)和现代儿童(N=)进行了比较，以评估个体发生、系统发育模式和早期发育阶段的变异。我们使用现代残差的标准差计算了每个化石标本的Z分数和相关概率。从两岁的早期发育阶段开始，Dederyeh儿童就发现了尼安德特人的几个显著特征，包括高眼眶、低鼻额角、宽的双向DC宽度、大的最大枕骨宽度和宽的鼻骨。这里观察到的发育模式与基于几何形态分析的发育模式相似，这些分析表明尼安德特人和现代人在颅骨形态上的分类差异的早期表现。然而，仔细检查生长概况发现，测量项目中有两种不同的模式。第一个是几乎平行的发展过程，至少在两年前就显示出分类学上的差异。第二种是尼安德特人和现代人之间难以区分的，表明在个体发育过程中没有明显的区别。第二种包括一种不同的模式，表明尼安德特人在大约2到4岁的儿童早期可能快速发展。最后一次细分归因于咀嚼复合体。

Two Dederiyeh Neanderthal children of about two years old from Syria were compared with other Neanderthal(N=10), Skhul-Qafzeh(N=4) and modern children(N=89) through univariate statistical analysis of cranial measurements to evaluate the ontogenetic, phylogenetic patterns and variations in early stages of development. We calculated the Z-scores and associated probabilities for each fossil specimen using the standard deviation of modern residuals.Several conspicuous features of Neanderthals, including high orbits, low nasiofrontal angle, wide bi-dc breadth, large maximum occipital breadth and wide nasal bone, are recognized in the Dederiyeh children even from the early developmental stage of two years old. The developmental patterns observed here are comparable to those based on geometric morphometric analyses showing early manifestation of a taxonomic difference in cranial morphology between Neanderthals and modern humans.However, close inspection of the growth profile demonstrates two different patterns in the measurement items. The first one is the almost parallel course of development showing an early indication of the taxonomic difference by at least two years of age. The second is indistinguishable between Neanderthals and modern humans showing the absence of a clear difference during ontogeny. The second includes a diverging pattern indicating a possible rapid development in Neanderthals during early childhood between about 2 to 4 years of age. The last subdivision is attributable to the masticatory complex.