The Application of Bony Labyrinth Methods for Forensic Affinity Estimation.

Population affinity identification is important for reconstructing the biological profile of human skeletal remains. Most anthropological methods for predicting population affinity rely on complete crania or cranial parts. However, complete parts are frequently not found in forensic and bioarchaeological contexts. In contrast, the petrous portion of the cranium presents a unique rate of preservation in the field. Therefore, this study aimed to develop stepwise discriminant function formulae to determine population affinity using measurements on three-dimensional models of the human adult bony labyrinth. The sample utilised consisted of 30 German, 38 African Zulu, and 30 Oneota individuals. A total of four function equations were developed. The function involving all three populations presented an average accuracy of 90.8%. Mathematical equations were also derived to discriminate between Zulu and Germans (91.2%), Zulu and Oneota (95.5%), as well as Oneota and Germans (96.7%). These results indicate this new method of population affinity identification is highly successful, even with fragmentary remains.

Out of Africa by spontaneous migration waves.

Hominin evolution is characterized by progressive regional differentiation, as well as migration waves, leading to anatomically modern humans that are assumed to have emerged in Africa and spread over the whole world. Why or whether Africa was the source region of modern humans and what caused their spread remains subject of ongoing debate. We present a spatially explicit, stochastic numerical model that includes ongoing mutations, demic diffusion, assortative mating and migration waves. Diffusion and assortative mating alone result in a structured population with relatively homogeneous regions bound by sharp clines. The addition of migration waves results in a power-law distribution of wave areas: for every large wave, many more small waves are expected to occur. This suggests that one or more out-of-Africa migrations would probably have been accompanied by numerous smaller migration waves across the world. The migration waves are considered "spontaneous", as the current model excludes environmental or other extrinsic factors. Large waves preferentially emanate from the central areas of large, compact inhabited areas. During the Pleistocene, Africa was the largest such area most of the time, making Africa the statistically most likely origin of anatomically modern humans, without a need to invoke additional environmental or ecological drivers.

Inner ear morphology of the cioclovina early modern European calvaria from Romania.

OBJECTIVES: The morphology of the human bony labyrinth is thought to preserve a strong phylogenetic signal and to be minimally, if at all, affected by postnatal processes. The form of the semicircular canals is considered a derived feature of Neanderthals and different from the modern human anatomy. Among other hominins, European Middle Pleistocene humans have been found to be most similar to Neanderthals. Early modern humans have been proposed to show a pattern that is distinct, but most similar to that of Holocene people. Here we examine the inner ear structures of the Cioclovina calvaria, one of the earliest reliably dated and relatively complete modern human crania from Europe, in the context of recent and fossil human variation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bony labyrinths were virtually extracted from CT scans of recent Europeans and Cioclovina. Using univariate and multivariate methods, measurements of the semicircular canals were compared with published measurements of other fossil specimens. RESULTS: Our results show that Cioclovina's inner ear morphology falls within the range of modern variation, with affinities to both Late Pleistocene modern humans and recent Europeans. Using discriminant functions, the sex of the Cioclovina specimen is estimated as male. DISCUSSION: Results agree with previous work showing that Cioclovina exhibits fully modern cranial morphology.