Lou Albessard‐Ball

University of York

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Antoine Balzeau

Institut de Paléontologie Humaine

Dominique Grimaud‐Hervé

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Anna Maria Kubicka

University of Life Sciences in Poznań

Juan Luís Arsuaga

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Carolin Röding

Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment

Aurélien Mounier

Institut de Paléontologie Humaine

Hila May

Tel Aviv University

Kristian J. Carlson

University of the Witwatersrand

Amélie Beaudet

University of Cambridge

Aida Gómez‐Robles

University College London

Cooperative Institutions

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Musée de l'Homme

Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique

Institut de Paléontologie Humaine

University of the Witwatersrand

Sorbonne Université

Université Paris-Saclay

National Research Center on Human Evolution

Inserm

Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle

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Variation and Correlations in Departures from Symmetry of Brain Torque, Humeral Morphology and Handedness in an Archaeological Sample of Homo sapiens

Symmetry (2020)

Antoine Balzeau Lou Albessard‐Ball Anna Maria Kubicka

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 to hand/arm preference. Our objective here is to characterize the possible correlations between the endocranial and post-cranial asymmetries of an archaeological sample. This, in turn, will allow us to try to identify and interpret prospective functional traits in the archaeological and fossil records. We observe that directional asymmetry (DA) is present both for some endocranial and humeral traits because of brain lateralization and lateralized behaviors, while patterns of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) vary. The combined study of these anatomical elements and of their asymmetries can shed light on the ways in which the body responds to dependent asymmetrical stimuli across biologically independent anatomical areas. Variations in FA are, in this context, indicators of differences in answers to lateralized factors. Humeri tend to show a much larger range of variation than the endocast. We show that important but complex information may be extracted from the combined study of the endocast and the arms in an archaeological sample of Homo sapiens.

Endocast

Homo sapiens

Variation (astronomy)

Morphology

Large sample

10.3390/sym12030432

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Comments on the Zambian Kabwe Cranium (BH1) in the Context of Pleistocene Specimens of Homo and the Need for Species Definitions

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) (2020)

J. Francis Thackeray Lou Albessard‐Ball Antoine Balzeau

This study is an extension of that which was undertaken by Balzeau et al. and published in this journal (2017), to reexamine 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 cranial and intracranial characters, including the conformation of the mid-sagittal plane. They discussed the results of a geometric morphometrics analysis of the cranial vault's profile based on two Principal Components (PC1 and PC2). This note includes the third component (PC3). Taken together, the results can be assessed in the context of potential relationships in temporal and geographical dimensions. Recognizing that boundaries between species are not necessarily clear, we appeal for the adoption of a probabilistic definition of a paleontologi-cal species (sigma taxonomy, as opposed to conventional alpha taxonomy).

Morphometrics

10.4207/pa.2020.art140

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Frontal sinus variation in extant species of the genera Pan, Gorilla and Homo

Antoine Balzeau Lou Albessard‐Ball Anna Maria Kubicka Camille Noûs Laura T. Buck

Frontal pneumatisation is not present in all primates, and among extant species, ethmoidally-derived frontal sinuses are present only in the genera Pan, Gorilla and Homo. A simple and repeatable method is described here to quantify variation in the shape, size and bilateral variation of the frontal sinuses. This has allowed the first large study of these variables, including analyses of large samples of P. paniscus, P. troglodytes, G. gorilla and of several geographically diverse populations of H. sapiens. Frontal sinus shape and size are potential phylogenetic markers in primate systematics. We suggest that, in contrast to an allometric relationship between endocranial and frontal sinus form in Pan and Gorilla, H. sapiens is autapomorphic in having highly variable, supero-inferiorly large frontal sinuses, whose size is unrestricted by variation in cranial form. However, we also describe differences in frontal pneumatisation between those taxa. H. sapiens differs from the other taxa in having relatively smaller frontal sinuses that are more variable in shape and size. In P. troglodytes, P. paniscus and G. gorilla, the shape and size of frontal pneumatisation correlates positively with the overall size of the braincase. This suggests that the large space available in the bone structures of the non-human primates analysed allows the sinuses to develop under only slight constraint (if any) from surrounding structures. In H. sapiens, a significant correlation is observed between the asymmetry in the anterior extension of the frontal lobes of the brain and the shape and extension of the frontal sinuses. We suggest that the more vertical orientation of the H. sapiens frontal bone, its reduced thickness, the reduction of the supraorbital tori and the increased influence of the frontal lobes appear to have modified the integration between the skull, brain and sinuses in the frontal region in our species compared to our nearest extant relatives. Our results reduce the possibility of a strong functional origin for the variation in size and shape of the frontal sinuses in the primates analysed.

Gorilla

Homo sapiens

Troglodytes

Pan paniscus

Frontal sinus

Autapomorphy

Hominidae

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Les sinus frontaux au cours de l’évolution humaine

Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d anthropologie de Paris (2023)

Antoine Balzeau Lou Albessard‐Ball Anna Maria Kubicka Andréa Filippo Amélie Beaudet

10.4000/bmsap.10512

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The brain of René Descartes (1650): A neuro-anatomical analysis

Journal of the Neurological Sciences (2017)

Charlier Philippe Isabelle Huynh‐Charlier Philippe Froesch Russell Shorto Nadia Benmoussa

Endocast

10.1016/j.jns.2017.04.031

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Evolution of Cranial and Endocranial Profiles inHomoSpecies: a Study in 2D Geometric Morphometrics

Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d anthropologie de Paris (2016)

Lou Albessard‐Ball Dominique Grimaud‐Hervé Antoine Balzeau

Homo sapiens

Morphometrics

Homo erectus

Crania

Endocast

Encephalization

10.1007/s13219-016-0161-x

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The development of bite force resistance in modern humans and Neanderthals

Lisa Genochio Lou Albessard‐Ball Frederica Landi Vladimir B. Doronichev Liubov V. Golovanova

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Isolated teeth from La Ferrassie: Reassessment of the old collections, new remains, and their implications

American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2019)

Gaël Becam Christine Verna Aida Gómez‐Robles Asier Gómez‐Olivencia Lou Albessard‐Ball

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.We use external and internal anatomy, classic morphometrics, and geometric morphometrics. The teeth from La Ferrassie are compared to several samples of contemporary Neandertals and upper Paleolithic modern humans and to recent modern humans.Three specimens are classified as Neandertals, two as modern humans, and one remains unclassified.Based on the previously known fossil samples and the new teeth reported here, there are currently a minimum of four adult and five immature Neandertal individuals coming from the "Grand Abri" and a minimum of two modern human adult individuals: one from "Grand Abri" and one from "Grotte." It is noteworthy that the spatial distribution of the recovered Neandertal remains is not restricted to the area where the LF1-LF 8 were found but now covers the full extension of the excavated area. Moreover, while both Neandertal and modern human occupations have yielded isolated human remains, the partial-to-complete skeletons only belong to Neandertals. These considerations open new perspectives for the understanding of the occupation and use of the La Ferrassie site.

10.1002/ajpa.23798

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Citations (10)

Frontal sinus variation in extant species of the genera Pan, Gorilla

Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d anthropologie de Paris (2021)

Antoine Balzeau Lou Albessard‐Ball Anna Maria Kubicka Camille Noûs Laura T. Buck

Gorilla

Homo sapiens

Pan paniscus

Troglodytes

Frontal sinus

Autapomorphy

Hominidae

10.4000/bmsap.7840

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Citations (5)

Co-variation morphologique du crâne et de l'endocrâne au cours de l'évolution du genre Homo

Lou Albessard‐Ball

Il existe chez les especes du genre Homo une diversite morphologique crânienne et cerebrale importante, et les interactions de ces deux elements sont complexes. De maniere generale, au cours de l’evolution de ce taxon, le neurocrâne prend une importance croissante par rapport au bloc facial en raison d’une expansion cerebrale marquee. Cependant, les modalites de cette expansion sont multiples, et elle se met en place chez les differentes especes via des modifications morphologiques qui leur sont propres. Mise a part l’augmentation du volume cerebral, l’endocrâne temoigne de reorganisations neuroanatomiques. Ces differents facteurs - volume et organisation – ainsi que les contraintes morpho-fonctionnelles diverses exercees sur la face externe du crâne, sont susceptibles de resulter en une variete de relations morphologiques et spatiales entre le neurocrâne et l’endocrâne. Il est donc pertinent de documenter ces relations afin de pouvoir par la suite mieux apprehender la variabilite et les mecanismes evolutifs a l’oeuvre chez les differents taxons du genre Homo. Nous explorons dans ce travail de these les variations jointes du neurocrâne et de l’endocrâne dans le genre Homo et chez Homo sapiens. Cette contribution est basee sur l’analyse de modeles virtuels de crânes et d’endocrânes a l’aide de methodes geometriques et d’une methode innovative de deformations de surfaces. Nous avons etudie des donnees morphologiques issues de populations actuelles afin d’eclaircir la nature des relations entre le neurocrâne et l’endocrâne chez Homo sapiens. Pour cela, nous avons compare les asymetries des hemispheres de l’endocrâne – qui refletent celles des hemispheres cerebraux – aux asymetries de la voute crânienne. Les schemas d’asymetrie bilaterale releves sont identiques sur le crâne et sur l’endocrâne. Cela s’explique par une morphologie de la voute du crâne calquee sur celle de l’endocrâne, malgre un effet « tampon » de l’os qui n’enregistre pas sur sa face externe toutes les asymetries cerebrales. Les possibles correlations entre le degre d’asymetrie et des facteurs tels que la conformation generale du crâne, la robustesse des superstructures osseuses, le sexe et le volume endocrânien ont egalement ete explorees. Nous avons ensuite analyse les schemas de co-variation entre neurocrâne et endocrâne au sein du genre Homo. Nous avons ainsi pu mettre en evidence des elements de co-variation qui concernent l’ensemble du genre Homo, et d’autres qui sont specifiques a certains taxons, notamment aux Neandertaliens ou a Homo sapiens. Ainsi, si la conformation de la voute crânienne est tres semblable a la morphologie endocrânienne, les interactions crâne-endocrâne dans la zone occipitale et cerebelleuse apparaissent plus variables, et semblent infeodees au degre de globularisation de l’ensemble du cerveau et du neurocrâne. Ces resultats mettent en evidence certaines interactions entre reorganisations cerebrales et morphologie crânienne chez les differentes especes du genre Homo, et soulignent le caractere crucial du croisement des donnees et des methodes pour l’interpretation du registre fossile.

Homo sapiens

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