Hominin brain evolution: the only way is up?
Open accessAbstract
Traditional views of human brain evolution focus on increases in brain size. However, the brain endocast of Homo naledi adds evidence that brain re-organisation played a significant role in hominin evolution.
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Brain expansion was not universal in fossil Homo, as evidenced by small-brained H. naledi and H. floresiensis.
“brain expansion was not universal in fossil Homo as evidenced by the small-brained Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins Homo naledi (Berger et al., 2015;Montgomery, 2018) and Homo floresiensis (Brown et al., 2004; Figure 1).”
From When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights From Brain Evolution in Ants (2021) · cites this paper as Montgomery, 2018
Cites
Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi chamber. South Africa.
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The evolution of modern human brain shape
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New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa
Hawks, J. D., Elliott, M., Schmid, P., Churchill, S. E., de Ruiter, D. J., Roberts, E. M., Hilbert-Wolf, H. L., Garvin, H. M., Williams, S. A., Delezene, L. K., et al. (2017) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.24232 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
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LB1’s virtual endocast, microcephaly, and hominin brain evolution
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Self-citationPattern and process in hominin brain size evolution are scale-dependent
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Bigger Brains Led to Bigger Bodies?: The Correlated Evolution of Human Brain and Body Size
Grabowski, M. (2016) · Current Anthropology · doi:10.1086/685655 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Primate brains, the ‘island rule’ and the evolution of Homo floresiensis
Montgomery, S. H. (2013) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.08.006 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
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DeSilva, J. M., Traniello, J. F. A., Claxton, A. G., & Fannin, L. D. (2021) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.742639 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
“Additionally, brain expansion was not universal in fossil Homo as evidenced by the small-brained Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins Homo naledi (Berger et al., 2015; Montgomery, 2018) and Homo floresiensis (Brown et al., 2004; Figure 1).”
BackgroundMolecular drivers of human cerebral cortical evolution
Suzuki, I. (2019) · Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1016/j.neures.2019.05.007 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Diniz‐Filho, J. A. F., Jardim, L., Mondanaro, A., & Raia, P. (2019) · Evolutionary Biology · doi:10.1007/s11692-019-09471-z · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Correlates of Vocal Tract Evolution in Late Pliocene and Pleistocene Hominins
Ekström, A. G., Gärdenfors, P., Snyder, W. D., Friedrichs, D., McCarthy, R. C., Tsapos, M., Tennie, C., Strait, D. S., Edlund, J., & Moran, S. (2025) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-025-09487-9 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Evolutionary history of hominin brain size and phylogenetic comparative methods
Pestana, C., de Sousa, A. A., Todorov, O. S., Beaudet, A., & Benoît, J. (2023) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.12.014 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Commentary: Human brains have shrunk: the questions are when and why
De, L. (2024) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2024.1368347 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Inferring intelligence of ancient people based on modern genomic studies
Dauyey, K., & Saitou, N. (2022) · Journal of Human Genetics · doi:10.1038/s10038-022-01039-8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Quantum Leaps in Human Biocultural Evolution and the Relationship to Cranial Capacity
Weber, G. W. (2023) · Life · doi:10.3390/life13041030 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Evolutionary Neuroscience of Cultural Evolution
Stout, D., & Hecht, E. E. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198869252.013.7
Human Neocortical Evolution and Neurological Disorders
SeanHill, R., & Walsh, C. A. (2023) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119860914.ch26
- Authors
- Montgomery, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Montgomery, Stephen
- ORCID
- Montgomery, Stephen
- Venue
- Current Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 14
- Pages
- R788-R790
- ISSN
- 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2884164116
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 3.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/N014936/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Keywords
- hominin brain evolution, Homo naledi, brain endocast, brain size, hominin cognition
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Humans, South Africa, Hominidae
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