Size variation in small-bodied humans from palau, micronesia.
BACKGROUND
Recent discoveries on Palau are claimed to represent the remains of small-bodied humans that may display evidence insular size reduction. This claim has yet to be statistically validated


RESULTS
Published postcranial specimens (n = 16) from Palau were assessed relative to recent small-bodied comparative samples. Resampling statistical approaches were employed to test specific hypotheses relating to body size in the Palau sample. Results confirm that the Palau postcranial sample is indisputably small-bodied.


CONCLUSIONS
A single, homogenous body size morph is represented in early prehistoric postcrania from Palau. Small body size in early Palauans is an ancestral characteristic and was likely not a consequence of in-situ size reduction. Specimens from Palau have little bearing upon hypothesised insular size reduction in the ancestral lineage of Homo floresiensis.
Gallagher
Andrew
A
School of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Andrew.Gallagher@wits.ac.za
D000349:Africa; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001208:Asia; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D049628:Body Size / Q000502:physiology; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D001842:Bone and Bones; D005580:Fossils; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008849:Micronesia; D019029:Palau