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17 - Hominid growth and development in Upper Pleistocene Homo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2009

By
A. J. Nelson ,
G. E. Krovitz  and
J. L. Thompson
Edited by
J. L. Thompson ,
G. E. Krovitz  and
A. J. Nelson
A. J. Nelson
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
G. E. Krovitz
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
J. L. Thompson
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
J. L. Thompson
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
G. E. Krovitz
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
A. J. Nelson
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
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Summary

I have now, as it appears to me, satisfactorily shown that not only in its general, but equally so in its particular characters, has the fossil under consideration the closest affinity to the apes. Only a few points of proximate resemblance have been made out between it and the human skull; and these are strictly peculiar to the latter in the fœtal state. The cranium of the human fœtus, however, possesses the lofty dome, the forward position of the frontal respectively to the outer orbital processes, the greatest width at the parietal centers of ossification and the vertical occiput, which are so conspicuous in the adult, but which are remarkably non-characteristic of the Neanderthal skull.

(King, 1994 (1864): 30)

Introduction

Much of the research regarding the evolution of the hominid pattern of growth and development has focused on material from the Upper Pleistocene, particularly on the Neandertals. The Neandertal fossil record is notable not only in terms of absolute numbers of adult and juvenile fossils, but because it preserves skeletons with associated cranial and postcranial remains. William King (in 1864) was responsible for the first publication of the taxonomic name Homo neanderthalensis (as discussed in Meikle & Parker, 1994). As the above quote demonstrates, King anticipated the concept of neoteny. Although it does not quite match our current definition of this term, the importance of this observation is that even in 1864, King was aware of the importance of the comparison of adult and subadult specimens in order to come to valid scientific conclusions.

Type
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Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo , pp. 412 - 435
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

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