title: Human hyoid bones from the middle Pleistocene site of the Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain).
abstract: This study describes and compares two hyoid bones from the middle Pleistocene site of the Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain). The Atapuerca SH hyoids are humanlike in both their morphology and dimensions, and they clearly differ from the hyoid bones of chimpanzees and Australopithecus afarensis. Their comparison with the Neandertal specimens Kebara 2 and SDR-034 makes it possible to begin to approach the question of temporal variation and sexual dimorphism in this bone in fossil humans. The results presented here show that the degree of metric and anatomical variation in the fossil sample was similar in magnitude and kind to living humans. Modern hyoid morphology was present by at least 530 kya and appears to represent a shared derived feature of the modern human and Neandertal evolutionary lineages inherited from their last common ancestor.
authors.affiliation: Area de Paleontología, Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Edificio de Ciencias, Campus Universitario, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain. imartinezm@isciii.es <imartinezm@isciii.es>
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arsuaga
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quam
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Carretero
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gracia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D006928:Hyoid Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D010163:Paleontology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013030:Spain