Bernard Wood

• George Washington University

Objectives: The aim of this study is to understand whether the shape of three sub-regions of the mandibular corpus (the alveolar arch, corpus at M1 and posterior symphysis) are useful for making taxonomic assessments at the genus and species levels in extant hominids. Materials and methods: We use data taken from 3D surface scans of the mandibul...

In this chapter we describe the upper limb musculature musculature of the bonobos dissected by us and by other previous authors, and compare it with that of common chimpanzees. The three major differences between the two chimpanzee species are: (1) the intermetacarpales and flexores breves profundi muscles in the hand of bonobos usually fuse to for...

In this chapter we describe the trunk, diaphragmatic, perineal and coccygeal musculature of the bonobos dissected by us and by other previous authors, and compare it with that of common chimpanzees. There are no major differences, for instance concerning the consistent presence of certain muscles in one species versus the consistent absence in the...

Strikingly, until the publication of this book comprehensive data about the soft tissues of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, was only available for common chimpanzees, as even Miller’s 1952 study of bonobo musculature was incomplete and restricted to a single individual. Few zoos keep bonobos and cadavers are difficult to come by, but...

In this chapter we describe the head and neck musculature of the bonobos dissected by us and by other previous authors, and compare it with that of common chimpanzees. The only major difference between the two chimpanzee species is that bonobos usually have a single belly of the omohyoideus, contrary to the two bellies that are usually present in b...

In this chapter, we describe the lower limb musculature musculature of the bonobos dissected by us and by other previous authors and compare it with that of common chimpanzees. The three major differences between the two chimpanzee species are that bonobos usually retain a scansorius and have popliteus-fibula and extensor hallucis longus-proximal b...

Common chimps and bonobos are our closest living relatives but almost nothing is known about bonobo internal anatomy. We present the first phylogenetic analysis to include musculoskeletal data obtained from a recent dissection of bonobos. Notably, chimpanzees, and in particular bonobos, provide a remarkable case of evolutionary stasis for since th...

The frequency of sagittal crest expression and patterns of sagittal crest growth and development have been documented in hominoids, including some extinct hominin taxa, and the more frequent expression of the sagittal crest in males has been traditionally linked with the need for larger-bodied individuals to have enough attachment area for the temp...

In 1960 John Robinson suggested that the newly defined species Zinjanthropus boisei should be transferred to the genus Paranthropus Paranthropus (Broom 1938) as Paranthropus boisei (Leakey 1959). Since then fossil evidence of two hyper-megadont early hominin taxa has come to light. One of these taxa, Paraustralopithecus aethiopicus (Arambourg and C...

We briefly review the relationships of modern humans and the great apes before considering the evidence for and against Ardipithecus ramidus, Ardipithecus kadabba, Orrorin tugenensis, and Sahelanthropus tchadensis being the earliest members of the hominin clade. We then describe each of the well-established hominin taxa recognized in a speciose int...

Chimpanzees, including bonobos and common chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives. However, surprisingly, the information about the soft tissues of bonobos is very scarce, making it difficult to discuss and understand human evolution. This book, which is the first photographic and descriptive musculoskeletal atlas of bonobos (Pan paniscus), a...

In this review of the evidence for and against taxic diversity within the hominin clade, we begin by looking at the logic and the history of simple "ladder-like" interpretations of the hominin fossil record. We then look at the hominin fossil record in a series of time intervals and use current published evidence about the first and last appearance...

This chapter presents a comparative study that focuses on the muscles of the trunk, pelvis, and lower limb. It draws together the broader evolutionary and developmental implications of the study of the musculature of primates. The chapter also discusses in more detail the origin, ontogeny, and evolution of the head, neck, pectoral, and forelimb mus...

Earlier this month, famed astronomer Geoff Marcy's sexual harassment of female students was exposed. He has since resigned from the University of California, Berkeley, in the face of concerted pressure from peers and students. It is unconscionable for someone to use academic power to be a sexual predator, but the reality is that Marcy operated in a...

We are in a new epoch, the Anthropocene, and research into our closest living relatives, the great apes, must keep pace with the rate that our species is driving change. While a goal of many studies is to understand how great apes behave in natural contexts, the impact of human activities must increasingly be taken into account. This is both a chal...

We are in a new epoch, the Anthropocene, and research into our closest living relatives, the great apes, must keep pace with the rate that our species is driving change. While a goal of many studies is to understand how great apes behave in natural contexts, the impact of human activities must increasingly be taken into account. This is both a chal...

Closely related species are likely to experience resource competition in areas where their ranges overlap. Fossil evidence suggests that hominins in East Africa c.2-1.5 million years ago may have lived synchronically and sympatrically, and that competition may have contributed to the different tooth sizes observed in Homo and Paranthropus. To asses...

In this review, we discuss the criteria for recognizing species and genera within the fossil record in general, and within the hominin clade in particular. We review the grade concept, suggest how taxa within the hominin clade can be divided into grades, and define the grade categories. We discuss the difficulties with studying macroevolution in th...

The inhibitory cascade is a mathematical model for interpreting the relative size of the occlusal surfaces of mammalian molars in terms of developmental mechanisms. The cascade is derived from experimental studies of mouse molars developed in culture, and has been tested and applied to the dentitions of rodents, ungulates, carnivores, and platyrrhi...

Despite uncontested evidence for fossils belonging to the early hominin genus Australopithecus in East Africa from at least 4.2 million years ago (Ma), and from Chad by 3.5 Ma, thus far there has been no convincing evidence of Australopithecus, Paranthropus or early Homo from the western (Albertine) branch of the Rift Valley. Here we report the dis...

Information about primate genomes has re-emphasized the importance of the great apes (Pan, Gorilla, and Pongo) as, for most purposes, the appropriate comparators when generating hypotheses about the most recent common ancestor of the hominins and panins, or the most recent common ancestor of the hominin clade. Great ape skeletal collections are thu...

Fontes-Villalba et al. (1) correctly observe that carbon isotope ratios in tooth enamel do not speak directly to plant versus animal food ingestion. Carbon isotope ratio data are useful for quantifying the consumption of C3- or C4-derived carbon, whether it comes directly from C3 or C4 plants or indirectly through consumption of animals that eat th...

Questions of alpha taxonomy are best addressed by comparing unknown specimens to samples of the taxa to which they might belong. However, analysis of the hominin fossil record is riddled with methods that claim to evaluate whether pairs of individual fossils belong to the same species. Two such methods, log sem and the related STET method, have bee...

Recent biomechanical analyses examining the feeding adaptations of early hominins have yielded results consistent with the hypothesis that hard foods exerted a selection pressure that influenced the evolution of australopith morphology. However, this hypothesis appears inconsistent with recent reconstructions of early hominin diet based on dental m...

Hominin fossil evidence in the Turkana Basin in Kenya from ca. 4.1 to 1.4 Ma samples two archaic early hominin genera and records some of the early evolutionary history of Paranthropus and Homo. Stable carbon isotopes in fossil tooth enamel are used to estimate the fraction of diet derived from C3 or C4 resources in these hominin taxa. The earliest...

Carbon isotope studies of early hominins from southern Africa showed that their diets differed markedly from the diets of extant apes. Only recently, however, has a major influx of isotopic data from eastern Africa allowed for broad taxonomic, temporal, and regional comparisons among hominins. Before 4 Ma, hominins had diets that were dominated by...

Four-field anthropology departments are no longer in a ‘steady state’. Their integrity is threatened by a combination of internal and external developments. It remains to be seen whether they, in combination, are powerful enough to break the historic bonds that have united them for nearly a century.

The present publication reviews the broader evolutionary implications of our long-term study of primate musculature. It summarizes the implications of the study for our understanding of the use of myological characters for phylogenetic reconstruction, for assessing the importance of homoplasy and reversions in evolution, and for our understanding o...

The hominin fossils from the Member 4 deposit at Sterkfontein, South Africa are most commonly attributed to Australopithecus africanus. However, a number of studies have suggested that they represent more than one species, although there is no consensus among those who recognize two (or more) taxa in this sample as to the allocation of individual s...

Researchers have long had an interest in dental morphology as a genetic proxy to reconstruct population history. Much interest was fostered by the use of standard plaques and associated descriptions that comprise the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System, developed by Christy G. Turner, II and students. This system has served as the f...

A comparison of the wearing effect of plant-derived silica and desert dust on tooth enamel suggests that extreme wear on teeth might not be caused by food. The findings may change some thoughts about the diets of human ancestors.

Here we provide the first report about the rates of muscle evolution derived from Bayesian and parsimony cladistic analyses of primate higher-level phylogeny, and compare these rates with published rates of molecular evolution. It is commonly accepted that there is a 'general molecular slow-down of hominoids', but interestingly the rates of muscle...

Palaeoanthropologist who pioneered description of African hominins.

According to Dollo's law, once a complex structure is lost it is unlikely to be reacquired. In this article, we report new data obtained from our myology-based cladistic analyses of primate phylogeny, which provide evidence of anatomical reversions violating Dollo's law: of the 220 character state changes unambiguously optimized in the most parsimo...

The anatomy of three new fossils, including a face, lends support to the hypothesis that there were at least two parallel lineages early in the evolutionary history of our own genus, Homo. See Letter p.201

Recent studies suggest that the hypodigms representing the two earliest Australopithecus (Au. anamensis and Au. afarensis) form an ancestor-descendant lineage. Understanding the details of this possible transition is important comparative evidence for assessing the likelihood of other examples of ancestor-descendant lineages within the hominin clad...

Modern humans represent the only surviving species of an otherwise extinct clade of primates, the hominins. As the closest living relatives to extinct hominins, extant primates are an important source of comparative information for the reconstruction of the diets of extinct hominins. Methods such as comparative and functional morphology, finite ele...

In this paper, we explore how the results of a primate-wide higher-level phylogenetic analysis of muscle characters can improve our understanding of the evolution and homologies of the forearm and hand muscles of modern humans. Contrary to what is often suggested in the literature, none of the forearm and hand muscle structures usually present in m...

The first unambiguous hominins occur approximately four million years ago. Prior to that, despite one 4.4 Ma impressively complete associated skeleton (ARA-VP-6/500 from Aramis in the Middle Awash), the fossil record is still poor. It is not at all clear that any of the possible early hominin taxa really do belong to the hominin clade. The earliest...

Molecules are rapidly replacing morphology as the preferred source of evidence for generating phylogenetic hypotheses. Critics of morphology claim that most morphology-based characters are ambiguous, subjective and prone to homoplasy. In this paper we summarize the results of recent Bayesian and parsimony-based cladistic analyses of the gross muscl...

In this chapter we report the results of an analysis of the attachments, relative weights, and innervation of the lower limb muscles of apes and modern humans. Within the hominoid specimens dissected by us the scansorius, articularis genus, adductor minimus, fibularis tertius, quadratus plantae, opponens digiti minimi and opponens hallucis are usua...

We review the fossil and genetic evidence that relate to evolution in the genus Homo. We focus on the origin of Homo and on the evidence for taxonomic diversity at the beginning of the evolutionary history of Homo and in the last 200,000 years. We set out the arguments for recognizing a second early Homo taxon, Homo rudolfensis, and the arguments f...

The Omo-Turkana Basin, including the hominin fossil sites around Lake Turkana and the sites along the lower reaches of the Omo River, has made and continues to make an important contribution to improving our murky understanding of human evolution. This review highlights the various ways the Omo-Turkana Basin fossil record has contributed to, and co...

The supraspinatus muscle is a key component of the soft tissues of the shoulder. In pronograde primates, its main function, in combination with the other rotator cuff muscles (subscapularis, infraspinatus, and teres minor), is to stabilize the glenohumeral joint, whereas in orthograde primates it functions together with the deltoid, to elevate the...

Apart from molecular data, nearly all the evidence used to study primate relationships comes from hard tissues. Here, we provide details of the first parsimony and Bayesian cladistic analyses of the order Primates based exclusively on muscle data. The most parsimonious tree obtained from the cladistic analysis of 166 characters taken from the head,...

The origin of our own genus remains frustratingly unclear. Although many of my colleagues are agreed regarding the “what” with respect to Homo, there is no consensus as to the “how” and “when” questions. Until relatively recently, most paleoanthropologists (including the writer) assumed Africa was the answer to the “where” question, but in a little...

The relationships among the living apes and modern humans have effectively been resolved, but it is much more difficult to locate fossil apes on the tree of life because shared skeletal morphology does not always mean shared recent evolutionary history. Sorting fossil taxa into those that belong on the branch of the tree of life that leads to moder...

This book is the first photographic and descriptive musculoskeletal atlas of Hylobates, and adopts the same format as the photographic atlas of Gorilla published by the same authors in 2010. These two books are part of a series of monographs that will set out the comparative and phylogenetic context of the gross anatomy and evolutionary history of...

This contribution reviews the evidence that has resolved the branching structure of the higher primate part of the tree of life and the substantial body of fossil evidence for human evolution. It considers some of the problems faced by those who try to interpret the taxonomy and systematics of the human fossil record. How do you to tell an early hu...

Phillip Tobias was intimately involved in the systematic analysis of two early hominin taxa, Zinjanthropus (now Paranthropus) boisei and Homo habilis. This paper compares and contrasts the way the fossil evidence for these taxa that has accumulated over the past half century has altered our perceptions of them. There is more consensus about the int...

Previous research has demonstrated that species and subspecies of extant chimpanzees and bonobos can be distinguished on the basis of the shape of their molar crowns. Thus, there is potential for fossil taxa, particularly fossil hominins, to be distinguished at similar taxonomic levels using molar crown morphology. Unfortunately, due to occlusal at...

Previous research has demonstrated that species and subspecies of extant chimpanzees and bonobos can be distinguished on the basis of the shape of enamel-dentine junction of lower molar crowns. Thus, there is potential for fossil taxa, particularly fossil hominins, to be distinguished at similar taxonomic levels using lower molar crown morphology....

The mammalian facial muscles are a subgroup of hyoid muscles (i.e. muscles innervated by cranial nerve VII). They are usually attached to freely movable skin and are responsible for facial expressions. In this study we provide an account of the origin, homologies and evolution of the primate facial muscles, based on dissections of various primate a...

Previous research into tooth crown dimensions and cusp proportions has proved to be a useful way to identify taxonomic differences in Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil hominins. The present study has identified changes in both M(1) crown size and cusp proportions within the genus Homo, with M(1) overall crown size reduction apparently occurring in tw...

In a recent study Diogo & Abdala [(2007) J Morphol 268, 504-517] reported the results of the first part of a research project on the comparative anatomy, homologies and evolution of the pectoral muscles of osteichthyans (bony fish and tetrapods). That report mainly focused on actinopterygian fish but also compared these fish with certain non-mammal...

The African Plio-Pleistocene hominins known as australopiths evolved a distinctive craniofacial morphology that traditionally has been viewed as a dietary adaptation for feeding on either small, hard objects or on large volumes of food. A historically influential interpretation of this morphology hypothesizes that loads applied to the premolars dur...

Mandibular corpora are well represented in the hominin fossil record, yet few studies have rigorously assessed the utility of mandibular corpus morphology for species recognition, particularly with respect to the linear dimensions that are most commonly available. In this study, we explored the extent to which commonly preserved mandibular corpus m...

Tooth crown morphology plays a central role in hominin systematics, but the removal of the original outer enamel surface by dental attrition often eliminates from consideration the type of detailed crown morphology that has been shown to discriminate among hominin taxa. This reduces the size of samples available for study. The enamel-dentine juncti...

Distinctive expressions and incidences of discrete dental traits at the outer enamel surface (OES) contribute to the diagnoses of many early hominin taxa. Examination of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ), imaged non-destructively using micro-computed tomography, has elucidated the morphological development of dental traits and improved interpretati...

In a recent paper Diogo (2008) reported the results of the first part of an investigation of the comparative anatomy, homologies and evolution of the head and neck muscles of osteichthyans (bony fish + tetrapods). That report mainly focused on actinopterygian fish, but also compared these fish with certain non-mammalian sarcopterygians. The present...

This paper begins by reviewing the fossil evidence for human evolution. It presents summaries of each of the taxa recognized in a relatively speciose hominin taxonomy. These taxa are grouped in grades, namely possible and probable hominins, archaic hominins, megadont archaic hominins, transitional hominins, pre-modern Homo and anatomically modern H...

In this review we attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary history of hominin life history from extant and fossil evidence. We utilize demographic life history theory and distinguish life history variables, traits such as weaning, age at sexual maturity, and life span, from life history-related variables such as body mass, brain growth, and dental d...

This contribution investigates the evolution of diet in the Pan-Homo and hominin clades. It does this by focusing on 12 variables (nine dental and three mandibular) for which data are available about extant chimpanzees, modern humans and most extinct hominins. Previous analyses of this type have approached the interpretation of dental and gnathic f...

The skeletal remains of a diminutive small-brained hominin found in Late Pleistocene cave deposits on the island of Flores, Indonesia were assigned to a new species, Homo floresiensis [Brown P, et al. (2004) A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431: 1055–1061]. A dramatically different interpretation is...

The considerable variation in shape, size, structure and properties of the enamel cap covering mammalian teeth is a topic of great evolutionary interest. No existing theories explain how such variations might be fit for the purpose of breaking food particles down. Borrowing from engineering materials science, we use principles of fracture and defor...

Discrete dental traits are used as proxies for biological relatedness among modern human populations and for alpha taxonomy and phylogeny reconstruction within the hominin clade. We present a comparison of the expression of lower molar dental traits (cusp 6, cusp 7, trigonid crest pattern, and protostylid) at the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) in a...

Homoiologies are phylogenetically misleading morphological similarities that are due to nongenetic factors. It has been claimed that homoiologies are common in the hominin skull, especially in regions affected by masticatory strain, and that their prevalence is one reason why reconstructing hominin phylogenetic relationships is difficult. To evalua...

It has been proposed that morphological characters functionally related to mastication may be unreliable indicators of early hominid phylogeny. One hypothesis states that masticatory characters are highly prone to homoplasy. A second hypothesis states that such characters are likely to be morphologically integrated and thus violate the assumption o...

Many people assume that OH 5, the type specimen of Paranthropus boisei, collected in 1959, was the first evidence of that taxon to be found, but OH 3, recovered in 1955, predated the discovery of OH 5 by four years. Thus, Paranthropus boisei recently celebrated the equivalent of its fiftieth birthday. This review marks that milestone by examining t...

We have examined the crowns of chimpanzee, australopith, and Paranthropus species and early Homo in order to investigate two different, widely recognized, dental trends in Plio-Pleistocene hominin evolution. They are a reduction in crown size and morphological complexity in Homo, and an increase in crown size and morphological complexity in Paranth...

The definition of the genus Homo is an important but under-researched topic. In this chapter, we show that interpretations of Homo have changed greatly over the last 150 years as a result of the incorporation of new fossil species, the discovery of fossil evidence that changed our perceptions of its component species, and reassessments of the funct...

Paranthropus boisei is a hominin taxon with a distinctive cranial and dental morphology. Its hypodigm has been recovered from sites with good stratigraphic and chronological control, and for some morphological regions, such as the mandible and the mandibular dentition, the samples are not only relatively well dated, but they are, by paleontological...

The three-million-year old skeleton of a three-year-old child provides an outstanding resource to understand the development of a human ancestor that seems to have both walked upright and climbed through trees.

Kolpochoerus heseloni is known from the later Pliocene into the middle Pleistocene of Africa. It is widely distributed in time and space, and it is known from many hominin palaeontological and archaeological sites in Africa. We use three methods to investigate the diet and habitat preferences of this species. Dental microwear analysis and carbon st...

Exactly when during evolution hominids acquired their extended extra-uterine growth period is a contentious issue. In order to shed light on the tempo and mode of ontogenetic changes during hominid evolution, research has focused on the pattern and, to a lesser extent, the rate of growth observed in the developing dentition of extant and extinct ho...