Noel T. Boaz

The Early Hominid Plant-Food Niche: Insights From an Analysis of Plant Exploitation by Homo, Pan, and Papio in Eastern and Southern Africa [and Comments and Reply]

African plant-food genera exploited by Homo, Pan, and Papio have been catalogued and analyzed to provide an estimation of the size and composition of the fundamental plant-food niche of the early hominids. Results to date include recognition of more than 100 widely distributed African plant genera which are the best known candidates for plant-food exploitation by the Plio/Pleistocene hominids of eastern and southern Africa. An analysis of staples reveals that fruits would be the most common type of plant part contributing to the early hominid plant-food diet. Six plant genera (four providing edible fruits) are the first genera to be identified as members of the most probable early-hominid fundamental plant-food niche. Potential interspecies competition for plant-food staples has also been estimated. It is highly significant and must be considered in models predicting the realized niche of these primates and the early hominids.

Upper Pleistocene Hominid Evolution in South-Central Europe: A Review of the Evidence and Analysis of Trends [and Comments and Reply]

South-Central Europe has yielded rather large and significant samples of archaic and early modern Homo sapiens dated to the Upper Pleistocene. These hominid samples have received proportionately little detailed consideration in discussions of the nature of the relationship between archaic and modern Homo sapiens in Europe. The First purpose of this paper is to review this material. The second purpose of this paper is to review this material. The second purpose is to investigate the trends in Upper Pleistocene hominid evolution in South-Central Europe and to relate them to the pattern of contemporary hominid evolution in adjacent regions. It is concluded that a distinct morphological continuum exists between Neandertals and early modern hominids in South-Central Europe and that this continuum is most likely the reflection of an indigenous transition from Neandertals to eraly modern Homo sapiens. Aspects of such a transition are visible in the sparse fossil record of North-Central Erope as well. The pattern in Western Europe and its relationship to South-Central Europe are less clear.

LATE PLIOCENE HOMINID OCCUPATION IN CENTRAL-AFRICA - THE SETTING, CONTEXT, AND CHARACTER OF THE SENGA-5A SITE, ZAIRE

Abstract Senga 5A is a late Pliocene archaeological occurrence discovered in 1985 on the eastern bank of the Semliki River in the Western Rift Valley of eastern Zaire. Excavations in 1985 and 1986 yielded stone artifacts of an Oldowan character, fossil mammal, reptile, fish, and mollusc remains, as well as coprolites and fossil wood. The site is situated in low-energy lacustrine deposits indicative of a shallow, littoral or paludal setting. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction indicates that a savanna mosaic existed in the Upper Semliki in the late Pliocene. Dating estimates based on faunal correlation indicate an age of about 2·0–2·3 million years B.P. making it the earliest archaeological site of its size and state of preservation currently known in Africa. As the westernmost Oldowan site known in Africa, Senga 5A significantly expands our knowledge of the geographic range of early tool using hominids.

New fossil finds from the Libyan Upper Neogene site of Sahabi

THE site at Sahabi, Libya, was first investigated in 1934–-391, and geological, palaeontological and palaeoanthropological research began again in 1977, as part of the International Sahabi Research Project. Further extensive fossiliferous sediments were revealed. A vertical extent of more than 80m of such sediments are exposed, and on the basis of the mammalian fauna their age is inferred as Late Turolian to Ruscinian, 7–4 Myr BP. We present here a report of Sahabi geology and palaeontology based on results obtained up to March 1979. More than 3,000 invertebrate and vertebrate fossil specimens have been collected, and for several taxonomic groups they fill a gap in the African fossil record.

Morphological Trends and Phylogenetic Relationships from Middle Miocene Hominoids to Late Pliocene Hominids

It is perhaps too early to posit certain morphological continuities in the Neogene fossil record of Hominoidea since there are still so many hiatuses, both temporal and geographical. Nevertheless, the gaps are slowly closing and the datum points that can be established provide the basis for this chapter, the purpose of which is the comparison of Pliocene hominids and the late-to-middle Miocene hominoids which may have been their forebears.

Early hominid population densities: new estimates.

Proportional faunal representations in excavated fossil occurrences (Shungura Formation, Omo, Ethiopia) are very similar to modern sub-Saharan mammalian faunal proportions in a variety of environments. Early hominids comprise between 0.6 and 1.6 percent of the excavated assemblage, corrected to reflect numbers of individuals. With allochthonous faunal localities for comparison, direct analogies to modern fauna suggest early hominid population densities of between 0.006 to 1.7 individuals per square kilometer. Calculations based on population densities of modern large mammals indicate that population densities of early hominids were between 0.001 and 2.48 individuals per square kilometer.

Structure and functional significance of the transverse vesical fold

The plica vesicalis transversa or transverse vesical fold (TVF) is a peritoneal fold extending from the lateral side of the bladder to the side of the lesser pelvis near the deep inguinal ring. It is an important landmark in laparoscopic surgery of the pelvis but is variably observed in the embalmed cadaver. We investigated the gross anatomy of this structure in the cadaver and confirmed that its medial portion corresponds to the location of the superior vesical artery(ies), thus supporting the idea that the TVF is “mesovesical.” However, no large vessels were observed grossly in the lateral portion of the TVF. The hypothesis that the lateral TVF has a suspensory function was tested histologically by comparison with the suspensory ligament of the duodenum and the phrenicocolic ligament, both of which have smooth muscle contributing to their inferred suspensory function. Microscopic examination of prepared samples from 20 cadavers shows that the TVF evinces no smooth muscle in either its lateral or medial segments. The TVF is demonstrated to be a mesentery‐like reflection of peritoneum raised by branches of the superior vesical artery which provides no demonstrable structural support for the bladder. Implications of these findings include avoidance of sectioning of medial TVF during laparoscopic surgery because of its vascular nature, and inadvisability of utilizing any portion of theTVF for an anchor in reconstruction of the anterior pelvic floor within the paravesical fossae. Clin. Anat. 24:62–69, 2011.

Aspects of early hominid emergence

Helen E. Fisher. The Sex Contract: The Evolution of Human Behavior.New York: William Morrow, 1982. 253 pp.

Hominid taphonomy: transport of human skeletal parts in an artificial fluviatile environment.

13.50.