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Article Dans Une Revue Scientific Reports Année : 2020

The atlas of StW 573 and the late emergence of human-like head mobility and brain metabolism

Amélie Beaudet
  • Fonction : Auteur
Ronald Clarke
Jason Heaton
  • Fonction : Auteur
Travis Pickering
  • Fonction : Auteur
Kristian Carlson
Robin Crompton
Tea Jashashvili
  • Fonction : Auteur
Kudakwashe Jakata
  • Fonction : Auteur
Lunga Bam
  • Fonction : Auteur
Luc van Hoorebeke
  • Fonction : Auteur
Kathleen Kuman
Dominic Stratford
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Functional morphology of the atlas reflects multiple aspects of an organism’s biology. More specifically, its shape indicates patterns of head mobility, while the size of its vascular foramina reflects blood flow to the brain. Anatomy and function of the early hominin atlas, and thus, its evolutionary history, are poorly documented because of a paucity of fossilized material. Meticulous excavation, cleaning and high-resolution micro-CT scanning of the StW 573 (‘Little Foot’) skull has revealed the most complete early hominin atlas yet found, having been cemented by breccia in its displaced and flipped over position on the cranial base anterolateral to the foramen magnum. Description and landmark-free morphometric analyses of the StW 573 atlas, along with other less complete hominin atlases from Sterkfontein (StW 679) and Hadar (AL 333-83), confirm the presence of an arboreal component in the positional repertoire of Australopithecus. Finally, assessment of the cross-sectional areas of the transverse foramina of the atlas and the left carotid canal in StW 573 further suggests there may have been lower metabolic costs for cerebral tissues in this hominin than have been attributed to extant humans and may support the idea that blood perfusion of these tissues increased over the course of hominin evolution.

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Dates et versions

hal-03092998 , version 1 (03-01-2021)

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Amélie Beaudet, Ronald Clarke, Jason Heaton, Travis Pickering, Kristian Carlson, et al.. The atlas of StW 573 and the late emergence of human-like head mobility and brain metabolism. Scientific Reports, 2020, 10, ⟨10.1038/s41598-020-60837-2⟩. ⟨hal-03092998⟩
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