TY - JOUR
T1 - Rib cage anatomy in Homo erectus suggests a recent evolutionary origin of modern human body shape
AU - Bastir, Markus
AU - García-Martínez, Daniel
AU - Torres-Tamayo, Nicole
AU - Palancar, Carlos A.
AU - Beyer, Benoît
AU - Barash, Alon
AU - Villa, Chiara
AU - Sanchis-Gimeno, Juan Alberto
AU - Riesco-López, Alberto
AU - Nalla, Shahed
AU - Torres-Sánchez, Isabel
AU - García-Río, Francisco
AU - Been, Ella
AU - Gómez-Olivencia, Asier
AU - Haeusler, Martin
AU - Williams, Scott A.
AU - Spoor, Fred
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the National Museums of Kenya, E. Mbua and F. Kyalo Manthi for permissions to perform CT and surface scanning of the vertebrae and ribs of KNM-WT 15000. H. Pontzer, D. Lieberman and B. Wood provided helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We also thank B. Perea-Pérez, D.A. Cáceres-Monllor, A.L. Santos, E. Cunha and M. Almeida for permissions and access to their collections. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (no. CGL 2015-63648-P) to M.B. D.G.-M. was funded by IdEx University of Bordeaux Investments for the Future programme (no. ANR-10-IDEX-03-02) and the European Commission’s Research Infrastructure Action via the Synthesys Projects (nos. SE-TAF-6406, DE-TAF-6404, BE-TAF-5639). Financial support for M.H. was provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation (no. 31003A_176319/1) and the Mäxi Foundation. A.G.-O. received support from the Spanish FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación-AEI (project no. PGC2018-093925-B-C33) and Research Group (no. IT1418-19) from Eusko Jaurlaritza-Gobierno Vasco. A.G.-O. is funded by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (no. RYC-2017-22558).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - The tall and narrow body shape of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved via changes in the thorax, pelvis and limbs. It is debated, however, whether these modifications first evolved together in African Homo erectus, or whether H. erectus had a more primitive body shape that was distinct from both the more ape-like Australopithecus species and H. sapiens. Here we present the first quantitative three-dimensional reconstruction of the thorax of the juvenile H. erectus skeleton, KNM-WT 15000, from Nariokotome, Kenya, along with its estimated adult rib cage, for comparison with H. sapiens and the Kebara 2 Neanderthal. Our three-dimensional reconstruction demonstrates a short, mediolaterally wide and anteroposteriorly deep thorax in KNM-WT 15000 that differs considerably from the much shallower thorax of H. sapiens, pointing to a recent evolutionary origin of fully modern human body shape. The large respiratory capacity of KNM-WT 15000 is compatible with the relatively stocky, more primitive, body shape of H. erectus.
AB - The tall and narrow body shape of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) evolved via changes in the thorax, pelvis and limbs. It is debated, however, whether these modifications first evolved together in African Homo erectus, or whether H. erectus had a more primitive body shape that was distinct from both the more ape-like Australopithecus species and H. sapiens. Here we present the first quantitative three-dimensional reconstruction of the thorax of the juvenile H. erectus skeleton, KNM-WT 15000, from Nariokotome, Kenya, along with its estimated adult rib cage, for comparison with H. sapiens and the Kebara 2 Neanderthal. Our three-dimensional reconstruction demonstrates a short, mediolaterally wide and anteroposteriorly deep thorax in KNM-WT 15000 that differs considerably from the much shallower thorax of H. sapiens, pointing to a recent evolutionary origin of fully modern human body shape. The large respiratory capacity of KNM-WT 15000 is compatible with the relatively stocky, more primitive, body shape of H. erectus.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41559-020-1240-4
DO - 10.1038/s41559-020-1240-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 32632258
AN - SCOPUS:85087648643
SN - 2397-334X
VL - 4
SP - 1178
EP - 1187
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
IS - 9
ER -