Lou Albessard-Ball

The University of York · Department of Archaeology

The frontal sinuses are cavities inside the frontal bone located at the junction between the face and the cranial vault and close to the brain. Despite a long history of study, understanding of their origin and variation through evolution is limited. This work compares most hominin species’ holotypes and other key individuals with extant hominids....

Cranial morphology in fossil hominins is largely variable with different observed patterns of integration related to intraspecific and interspecific factors [1]. One of the key factors to understanding the evolution of Homo is the identification and quantification of patterns of integration in the skull and endocast [2]. By studying these patterns,...

Contact and additional info (ESHE 2022)

Neuroanatomical integration studies aim to analyse the interaction of the different brain regions. The skull and brain morphology of Hominidae presents a series of integration patterns and, one of the keys to understand the evolutionary mechanisms of our genus is to identify and quantify if these integration patterns are shared or species-specific....

The cranial integration and modularity studies aim to analyse the covariation and interaction of the different bony structures that make up the cranium. The craniofacial morphology of the Hominidae is largely variable and, within it, a series of integration patterns that may be due to both intraspecific and interspecific factors have been observed...

Middle Pleistocene Homo in the Levant Our understanding of the origin, distribution, and evolution of early humans and their close relatives has been greatly refined by recent new information. Adding to this trend, Hershkovitz et al. have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown archaic Homo population, the “Nesher Ramla Homo ” (see the Perspecti...

English version below /// L'une des caractéristiques les plus souvent évoquées lorsque l'on tente de décrire ce qui fait notre humanité est le cerveau humain « moderne » et ses capacités cognitives. La mise en évidence chez les hominines fossiles de comportements que l'on reconnaît comme étant similaires aux nôtres joue donc un rôle majeur dans la...

English version below - a sci comm article for French language archaeology magazine Dossiers d'Archéologie //// Que sait-on vraiment de l’évolution du cerveau humain ? Pour l’étudier, on observe les variations de taille et de morphologie cérébrale des restes fossiles, mais aussi les indices archéologiques de comportements symboliques ou d’innovati...

Studying endocasts has long allowed anthropologists to examine changes in the external topography and the overall size of the brain throughout the evolutionary history of hominins. The nearly complete calvaria of Manot 1 presents an opportunity to gain insights into the external brain morphology, vascular system, and dimensions of the brain of this...

This study is an extension of that which was undertaken by Balzeau et al. and published in this journal (2017), to re-examine the BH1 cranium which was initially described as Homo rhodesiensis in 1921, but more recently regarded as H. heidelbergensis. It is compared to other Pleistocene specimens of Homo. Balzeau et al. (2017) examined various cran...

The anatomical asymmetries of the human brain are the subject of a great deal of scientific interest because of their links with handedness and lateralized cognitive functions. Information about lateralization in humans is also available from the post-cranial skeleton, particularly the arm bones, in which differences in size and shape are related t...

Objectives We provide the description and comparative analysis of six new teeth from the site of La Ferrassie. Our goal is to discuss their taxonomic attribution, and to provide an updated inventory of Neandertal and modern human remains from La Ferrassie in their associated archeological context. Materials and methods We use external and internal...

Of the characteristics of the species Homo sapiens relative to other living animals, the use of articulated language is among the most striking. Because it implies—and allows for—complex social relationships and cognitive processes, the emergence of articulated language during hominin evolution is regarded as one of the most important steps in beco...

The cranium (Broken Hill 1 or BH1) from the site previously known as Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) is one of the best preserved hominin fossils from the mid-Pleistocene. Its distinctive combination of anatomical features, however, makes its taxonomic attribution ambiguous. High resolution microCT, which has not previously been...

The cranium (Broken Hill 1 or BH1) from the site previously known as Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) is one of the best preserved hominin fossils from the mid-Pleistocene. Its distinctive combination of anatomical features, however, makes its taxonomic attribution ambiguous. High resolution microCT, which has not previously been...

The skull of René Descartes is held in the National Museum of Natural History since the 19th c. Up to date, only anthropological examinations were carried out, focusing on the cranial capacity and phrenological interpretation of the skull morphology. Using CT-scan based 3D technology, a reconstruction of the endocast was performed, allowing for its...

A summary of my ongoing research about skull and brain evolution in hominins, as of 2017

Cranial anatomical features play a prominent part in the definition of extinct Homo taxa and in species identification in fossils. Thus, knowledge of cranial morphology considered within its geochronological framework is essential to the understanding of the evolution, chronology, and dispersal of the genus Homo. The brain is also a valuable object...