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Cited by 74Pleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyPrimate Behavior and EcologyForensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

Middle Childhood and Modern Human Origins

Thompson, Jennifer L., Nelson, Andrew J.·2011·Human Nature
DOI 10.1007/s12110-011-9119-3
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Abstract

The evolution of modern human life history has involved substantial changes in the overall length of the subadult period, the introduction of a novel early childhood stage, and many changes in the initiation, termination, and character of the other stages. The fossil record is explored for evidence of this evolutionary process, with a special emphasis on middle childhood, which many argue is equivalent to the juvenile stage of African apes. Although the "juvenile" and "middle childhood" stages appear to be the same from a broad comparative perspective, in that they begin with the eruption of the first molar and the achievement of the majority of adult brain size and end with sexual maturity, the detailed differences in the expression of these two stages, and how they relate to the preceding and following stages, suggest that a distinction should be maintained between them to avoid blurring subtle, but important, differences.

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Crossref · 10.1007/s12110-011-9119-3

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173 of 173 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Growth and development in El Sidrón J1 fits the typical features of human ontogeny, where slow somatic growth between weaning and puberty may offset the cost of growing a large brain.

    “Growth and development in this juvenile Neandertal fits the typical features of human ontogeny, where there is slow somatic growth between weaning and puberty (3,28) that may offset the cost of growing a large brain.”

    From The growth pattern of Neandertals, reconstructed from a juvenile skeleton from El Sidrón (Spain) (2017) · cites this paper as [28]

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Authors
Thompson, J. L., & Nelson, A. J.
Affiliations
  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
  • Western University (CA)
Corresponding author
Thompson, Jennifer L.
ORCID
Venue
Human Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2011-08-12
Volume
22
Issue
3
Pages
249-280
ISSN
  • 1045-6767 (ISSN-L)
  • 1936-4776
DOI
10.1007/s12110-011-9119-3
OpenAlex
W2149698508
Cited by
74
References
173
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 2
FWCI
16.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Human Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
  • University of Cape Town
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
Keywords
middle childhood, modern human origins, juvenile stages, early childhood, fossil record, African apes, first molar eruption, brain size, sexual maturity, developmental stages
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Animals, Body Weights and Measures, Child, Child Development, Cultural Evolution, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Humans, Skull, Tooth Eruption, Hominidae, Adolescent Development

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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

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