Publication Date:
2007-01-16
Description:
The lack of Late Pleistocene human fossils from sub-Saharan Africa has limited paleontological testing of competing models of recent human evolution. We have dated a skull from Hofmeyr, South Africa, to 36.2 +/- 3.3 thousand years ago through a combination of optically stimulated luminescence and uranium-series dating methods. The skull is morphologically modern overall but displays some archaic features. Its strongest morphometric affinities are with Upper Paleolithic (UP) Eurasians rather than recent, geographically proximate people. The Hofmeyr cranium is consistent with the hypothesis that UP Eurasians descended from a population that emigrated from sub-Saharan Africa in the Late Pleistocene.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Grine, F E -- Bailey, R M -- Harvati, K -- Nathan, R P -- Morris, A G -- Henderson, G M -- Ribot, I -- Pike, A W G -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2007 Jan 12;315(5809):226-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Departments of Anthropology and Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA. fgrine@notes.cc.sunysb.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17218524" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Africa South of the Sahara
;
Asia
;
Emigration and Immigration
;
Europe
;
*Fossils
;
Humans
;
Mandible/anatomy & histology
;
Maxilla/anatomy & histology
;
Molar/anatomy & histology
;
Paleodontology
;
*Skull/anatomy & histology
;
South Africa
;
Time
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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