title: What do cranial bones of LB1 tell us about Homo floresiensis?
abstract: Cranial vault thickness (CVT) of Liang Bua 1, the specimen that is proposed to be the holotype of Homo floresiensis, has not yet been described in detail and compared with samples of fossil hominins, anatomically modern humans or microcephalic skulls. In addition, a complete description from a forensic and pathological point of view has not yet been carried out. It is important to evaluate scientifically if features related to CVT bring new information concerning the possible pathological status of LB1, and if it helps to recognize affinities with any hominin species and particularly if the specimen could belong to the species Homo sapiens. Medical examination of the skull based on a micro-CT examination clearly brings to light the presence of a sincipital T (a non-metrical variant of normal anatomy), a scar from an old frontal trauma without any evident functional consequence, and a severe bilateral hyperostosis frontalis interna that may have modified the anterior morphology of the endocranium of LB1. We also show that LB1 displays characteristics, related to the distribution of bone thickness and arrangements of cranial structures, that are plesiomorphic traits for hominins, at least for Homo erectus s.l. relative to Homo neanderthalensis and H. sapiens. All the microcephalic skulls analyzed here share the derived condition of anatomically modern H. sapiens. Cranial vault thickness does not help to clarify the definition of the species H. floresiensis but it also does not support an attribution of LB1 to H. sapiens. We conclude that there is no support for the attribution of LB1 to H. sapiens as there is no evidence of systemic pathology and because it does not have any of the apomorphic traits of our species.
authors.affiliation: Équipe de Paléontologie Humaine, UMR 7194 du CNRS, Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France; Department of African Zoology, Royal Museum for Central Africa, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium. Electronic address: abalzeau@mnhn.fr.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balzeau
authors.affiliation: Section of Medical and Forensic Anthropology, UFR of Health Sciences (UVSQ/Paris-Descartes University, AP-HP), Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Charlier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009777:Occipital Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010164:Paleopathology; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: Cranial vault thickness; Hominin evolution; Imaging methodologies; Insular dwarfism; Palaeopathology