title: A fourth hominin skull from Dmanisi, Georgia.
abstract: Newly discovered Homo remains, stone artifacts, and animal fossils from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia, provide a basis for better understanding patterns of hominin evolution and behavior in Eurasia ca. 1.77 million years ago. Here we describe a fourth skull that is nearly complete, lacking all but one of its teeth at the time of death. Both the maxillae and the mandible exhibit extensive bone loss due to resorption. This individual is similar to others from the site but supplies information about variation in brain size and craniofacial anatomy within the Dmanisi paleodeme. Although this assemblage presents numerous primitive characters, the Dmanisi skulls are best accommodated within the species H. erectus. On anatomical grounds, it is argued that the relatively small-brained and lightly built Dmanisi hominins may be ancestral to African and Far Eastern branches of H. erectus showing more derived morphology.
authors.affiliation: Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia. dlordkipanidze@museum.ge
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lordkipanidze
authors.forename: Abesalom
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vekua
authors.forename: Reid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferring
authors.forename: G Philip
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Rightmire
authors.forename: Christoph P E
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Zollikofer
authors.forename: Marcia S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ponce de León
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Agusti
authors.forename: Gocha
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kiladze
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mouskhelishvili
authors.forename: Medea
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nioradze
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tappen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D016723:Bone Remodeling; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D002508:Cephalometry; D005580:Fossils; D005624:Frontal Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005846:Georgia (Republic); D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008416:Mastoid / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008437:Maxilla / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D009777:Occipital Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D009929:Organ Size; D010163:Paleontology / Q000379:methods; D010802:Phylogeny; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014070:Tooth