A paleoneurological study of the endocranial morphology of Homo erectus focusing on Java Man

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26840156
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Physical anthropology
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University (2016); University of Tsukuba (2014-2015)
• Principal Investigator: KUBO Daisuke 北海道大学, 医学研究科, 准教授 (00614918)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 化石人類 / ホモ・エレクトス / ジャワ原人 / エンドキャスト / 古神経学 / 人類進化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to clarify the anatomy and its evolutionary changes of the brain and endocranial vascular structures in Indonesian Homo erectus, this study restored their endocasts from the incomplete fossils and examined the morphology by using the high-resolution CT data. This study found that there was a substantial increase in brain size from Trinil/Sangiran group to the middle Pleistocene Sambungmacan/Ngawi group, the cerebellar size of both early and late Javanese H. erectus groups were presumably comparable to that expected for a modern human of the same cerebral volume, and the predominant increase of the width of frontal lobes was likely a shared feature of modern humans, Neanderthals and the late Javanese H. erectus compared to the Sangiran/Trinil H. erectus. This study also provide a supportive evidence that the anterior branch of the middle meningeal artery originated from the ophthalmic system in at least two individuals among Javanese H. erectus specimens.

Free Research Field

自然人類学　形態人類学