Human cranial anatomy and the differential preservation of population history and climate signatures
Open accessAbstract
Cranial morphology is widely used to reconstruct evolutionary relationships, but its reliability in reflecting phylogeny and population history has been questioned. Some cranial regions, particularly the face and neurocranium, are believed to be influenced by the environment and prone to convergence. Others, such as the temporal bone, are thought to reflect more accurately phylogenetic relationships. Direct testing of these hypotheses was not possible until the advent of large genetic data sets. The few relevant studies in human populations have had intriguing but possibly conflicting results, probably partly due to methodological differences and to the small numbers of populations used. Here we use three‐dimensional (3D) geometric morphometrics methods to test explicitly the ability of cranial shape, size, and relative position/orientation of cranial regions to track population history and climate. Morphological distances among 13 recent human populations were calculated from four 3D landmark data sets, respectively reflecting facial, neurocranial, and temporal bone shape; shape and relative position; overall cranial shape; and centroid sizes. These distances were compared to neutral genetic and climatic distances among the same, or closely matched, populations. Results indicate that neurocranial and temporal bone shape track neutral genetic distances, while facial shape reflects climate; centroid size shows a weak association with climatic variables; and relative position/orientation of cranial regions does not appear correlated with any of these factors. Because different cranial regions preserve population history and climate signatures differentially, caution is suggested when using cranial anatomy for phylogenetic reconstruction. Anat Rec Part A, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
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While facial morphology carries a neutral genetic or population history signal, it is more strongly affected by climatic conditions than other parts of the cranium, especially in high latitude populations.
“while facial morphology does carry a neutral genetic or population history signal, it is more strongly affected by climatic conditions than other parts of the cranium, especially in high latitude populations 81,82,83”
From The evolutionary history of the human face (2019) · cites this paper as [81]
The modern human cranium overall appears to be mainly shaped by neutral evolutionary processes, while the modern human face reflects both phylogenetic and environmental factors.
“While the modern human cranium, overall, appears to be mainly shaped by neutral evolutionary processes [80][81][82] , the modern human face reflects both phylogenetic and environmental factors [81][82][83][84]”
From The evolutionary history of the human face (2019) · cites this paper as [81]
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- Authors
- Harvati, K., & Weaver, T. D.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Harvati, Katerina
- Venue
- The Anatomical Record Part A: Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2006-10-30
- Volume
- 288A
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1225-1233
- ISSN
- 1552-4884 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-4892
- OpenAlex
- W2123428193
- Cited by
- 396
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 19.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Anatomical Record Part A Discoveries in Molecular Cellular and Evolutionary Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
- Keywords
- head shape, demographic history, temporal bone, neurocranium, facial shape, centroid size, morphological convergence, phylogenetic inference, genetic distance, morphological distance, 3D geometric morphometrics
- MeSH terms
- Acclimatization, Adult, Anthropology, Physical, Cephalometry, Climate, Biological Evolution, Face, Female, Genetics, Population, Humans, Male, Phylogeny, Skull, Temporal Bone, Genetic Variation, Reproducibility of Results, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Racial Groups
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