CRANIAL MORPHOLOGY DURING HUMAN EVOLUTION: THREE QUESTIONS STILL OPEN

• Grant number: 22/13878-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2023
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Prehistoric Archaeology
• Principal Investigator: Walter Alves Neves
• Grantee: Gabriel Rocha da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos Avançados (IEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The hominin lineage emerged in Africa seven million years ago and is characterized by a high taxonomic diversity, with at least 28 recognized species. Despite the observed diversity, the fossil record is scarce and highly fragmented. Thus, the difficulty in classifying this material is one of the biggest obstacles in the area. Currently, many specimens still lack a safer taxonomic classification, obscuring their role in our phylogeny. In addition to correctly identifying taxonomic units, a second step is to infer their evolutionary relationships, which is highly unlikely in the absence of secure classification proposals. In addressing these questions, several authors have used the skull as a central object of study, as it is a highly informative anatomical region. Taking this scenario into account this project proposes to investigate three central questions still open in paleoanthropology, based on cranial morphology: (i) the morphological diversity in Homo erectus; (ii) the morphological affinities of Sahelanthropus tchadensis; (iii) the taxonomy of Sterkfontein fossils. For this investigation, we built a database with 245 specimens for which we compiled classic craniometric measurements, which will be the primary object of analysis. We will use a multivariate approach through Principal Component and Cluster analyses. In this way, we hope to shed light on these topics and contribute to the advancement of the debate on the origins of humanity, in addition to intensifying the insertion of Brazil in the international paleoanthropological scenario.