Diagnosing Homo sapiens in the fossil record. (July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stringer, Christopher Brian; Buck, Laura Tabitha
• Is Part Of: Annals of human biology. Volume 41:Number 4(2014:Jul./Aug.)
• Page Start: 312
• Page End: 322
• Publication Date: 2014-07
• Subjects: Human biology -- Periodicals; 612
• DOI: 10.3109/03014460.2014.922616
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-4460

Abstract

<abstract> <title>Abstract</title> <p> <italic>Background</italic>: Diagnosing <italic>Homo sapiens</italic> is a critical question in the study of human evolution. Although what constitutes living members of our own species is straightforward, in the fossil record this is still a matter of much debate. The issue is complicated by questions of species diagnoses and ideas about the mode by which a new species is born, by the arguments surrounding the behavioural and cognitive separateness of the species, by the increasing appreciation of variation in the early African <italic>H. sapiens</italic> record and by new DNA evidence of hybridization with extinct species.</p> <p> <italic>Methods and results</italic>: This study synthesizes thinking on the fossils, archaeology and underlying evolutionary models of the last several decades with recent DNA results from both <italic>H. sapiens</italic> and fossil species.</p> <p> <italic>Conclusion</italic>: It is concluded that, although it may not be possible or even desirable to cleanly partition out a homogenous morphological description of recent <italic>H. sapiens</italic> in the fossil record, there are key, distinguishing morphological traits in the cranium, dentition and pelvis that can be usefully employed to diagnose the <italic>H. sapiens</italic><bold>lineage</bold>. Increasing advances in retrieving and understanding relevant genetic data provide a complementary and perhaps potentially even more fruitful means of characterizing the differences between <italic>H. sapiens</italic> and its close relatives.</p> </abstract>