DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0700747104. Earliest evidence of modern human life history in North African early <i>Homo sapiens</i>

Earliest evidence of modern human life history in North African early Homo sapiens

10.1073/pnas.0700747104

Crossref journal-article

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (341)

Abstract

Recent developmental studies demonstrate that early fossil hominins possessed shorter growth periods than living humans, implying disparate life histories. Analyses of incremental features in teeth provide an accurate means of assessing the age at death of developing dentitions, facilitating direct comparisons with fossil and modern humans. It is currently unknown when and where the prolonged modern human developmental condition originated. Here, an application of x-ray synchrotron microtomography reveals that an early Homo sapiens juvenile from Morocco dated at 160,000 years before present displays an equivalent degree of tooth development to modern European children at the same age. Crown formation times in the juvenile's macrodont dentition are higher than modern human mean values, whereas root development is accelerated relative to modern humans but is less than living apes and some fossil hominins. The juvenile from Jebel Irhoud is currently the oldest-known member of Homo with a developmental pattern (degree of eruption, developmental stage, and crown formation time) that is more similar to modern H. sapiens than to earlier members of Homo . This study also underscores the continuing importance of North Africa for understanding the origins of human anatomical and behavioral modernity. Corresponding biological and cultural changes may have appeared relatively late in the course of human evolution.

Bibliography

Smith, T. M., Tafforeau, P., Reid, D. J., GrÃ¼n, R., Eggins, S., Boutakiout, M., & Hublin, J.-J. (2007). Earliest evidence of modern human life history in North African early Homo sapiens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(15), 6128â6133.

Authors 7

Tanya M. Smith (first)
Paul Tafforeau (additional)
Donald J. Reid (additional)
Rainer Grün (additional)
Stephen Eggins (additional)
Mohamed Boutakiout (additional)
Jean-Jacques Hublin (additional)

References 38 Referenced 272

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MC Dean Proc R Soc London Ser B 273, 2799–2808 (2006). / Proc R Soc London Ser B by Dean MC (2006)
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10.1038/nature05314
TM Smith, DJ Reid, MC Dean, AJ Olejniczak, RJ Ferrell, LB Martin Dental Perspectives on Human Evolution: State of the Art Research in Dental Paleoanthropology, eds SE Bailey, J-J Hublin (Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, in press. / Dental Perspectives on Human Evolution: State of the Art Research in Dental Paleoanthropology by Smith TM
J-J Hublin, AM Tillier Aspects of Human Evolution, ed CB Stringer (Taylor and Francis, London), pp. 167–185 (1981). / Aspects of Human Evolution by Hublin J-J (1981)
P Tafforeau (Université de Montpellier II Montpellier France PhD thesis. (2004).
10.1007/s00339-006-3507-2
P Tafforeau, I Bentaleb, J-J Jaeger, C Martin Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, in press. / Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol by Tafforeau P
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10.1073/pnas.0503108102
TM Smith, AJ Olejniczak, P Tafforeau, DJ Reid, FE Grine, J-J Hublin S Afri J Sci, in press. / S Afri J Sci by Smith TM
MC Dean Aspects of Dental Biology: Palaeontology, Anthropology, and Evolution, ed J Moggi-Cecchi (Intl Inst Study Man, Florence, Italy), pp. 239–265 (1995). / Aspects of Dental Biology: Palaeontology, Anthropology, and Evolution by Dean MC (1995)
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10.1006/jhev.1998.0233
10.1006/jhev.1998.0248
BH Smith Advances in Dental Anthropology, eds MA Kelley, CS Larsen (Wiley, New York), pp. 143–168 (1991). / Advances in Dental Anthropology by Smith BH (1991)
H Liversidge Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo, eds JL Thompson, GE Krovitz, AJ Nelson (Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, UK), pp. 73–113 (2003). (10.1017/CBO9780511542565.004) / Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo by Liversidge H (2003)
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10.1023/A:1012073601808
10.1002/ajpa.1081

Dates

Type	When
Created	18 years, 5 months ago (March 19, 2007, 8:36 p.m.)
Deposited	3 years, 4 months ago (April 12, 2022, 3:14 p.m.)
Indexed	6 days, 12 hours ago (Aug. 26, 2025, 2:58 a.m.)
Issued	18 years, 4 months ago (April 10, 2007)
Published	18 years, 4 months ago (April 10, 2007)
Published Online	18 years, 4 months ago (April 10, 2007)
Published Print	18 years, 4 months ago (April 10, 2007)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Smith_2007, title={Earliest evidence of modern human life history in North African early Homo sapiens}, volume={104}, ISSN={1091-6490}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0700747104}, DOI={10.1073/pnas.0700747104}, number={15}, journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, publisher={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, author={Smith, Tanya M. and Tafforeau, Paul and Reid, Donald J. and Grün, Rainer and Eggins, Stephen and Boutakiout, Mohamed and Hublin, Jean-Jacques}, year={2007}, month=apr, pages={6128–6133} }

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