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Sphenoid shortening and the evolution of modern human cranial shape

Nature volume 393, pages 158–162 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Crania of ‘anatomically modern’ Homo sapiens from the Holocene and Upper Pleistocene epochs differ from those of other Homo taxa, including Neanderthals, by only a few features. These include a globular braincase, a vertical forehead, a dimunitive browridge, a canine fossa and a pronounced chin1,2,3,4. Humans are also unique among mammals in lacking facial projection: the face of the adult H. sapiens lies almost entirely beneath the anterior cranial fossa, whereas the face in all other adult mammals, including Neanderthals, projects to some extent in front of the braincase. Here I use radiographs and computed tomography to show that many of these unique human features stem partly from a single, ontogenetically early reduction in the length of the sphenoid, the central bone of the cranial base from which the face grows forward. Sphenoid reduction, through its effects on facial projection and cranial shape, may account for the apparently rapid evolution of modern human cranial form, and suggests that Neanderthals and other archaic Homo should be excluded from H. sapiens.

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Figure 1: Cranial growth in modern and archaic Homo.
Figure 2: Ontogeny of facial projection in Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes.
Figure 3: Effects of anterior sphenoid length (ASL) on facial projection (MFP) and other aspects of cranial shape in Homo.

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Acknowledgements

I thank B. Arensburg, M. Chech, A. W. Crompton, J.-J. Hublin, L. Humphreey, L.Jellema, R. Kruszinski, P. Langaney, B. Latimer, T. Molleson, D. Pilbeam, A. Poole, C. Ross, G. Sawyer, F.Spoor, C. Stringer, I. Tattersall and A. Walker for help and/or permission to obtain radiographs and CT scans; R. McCarthy, K. Mowbray and R. Bernstein for help with collecting data; and L. Aiello, F. A. Jenkins Jr, P. O'Higgins, O. Pearson, D. Pilbeam, G. P. Rightmire, N. Shubin, R. J. Smith, I. Tattersall and B. Wood for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by Rutgers University.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, 08903-0270, New Jersey, USA

    Daniel E. Lieberman

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Correspondence to Daniel E. Lieberman.

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Lieberman, D. Sphenoid shortening and the evolution of modern human cranial shape. Nature 393, 158–162 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/30227

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