Cited by 195Evolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorPleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyMorphological variations and asymmetry

Craniofacial feminization, social tolerance, and the origins of behavioral modernity

Cieri, Robert L., Churchill, Steven E., Franciscus, Robert G., Tan, Jingzhi, Hare, Brian·2014·Current Anthropology

Abstract

The past 200,000 years of human cultural evolution have witnessed the persistent establishment of behaviors involving innovation, planning depth, and abstract and symbolic thought, or what has been called “behavioral modernity.” Demographic models based on increased human population density from the late Pleistocene onward have been increasingly invoked to understand the emergence of behavioral modernity. However, high levels of social tolerance, as seen among living humans, are a necessary prerequisite to life at higher population densities and to the kinds of cooperative cultural behaviors essential to these demographic models. Here we provide data on craniofacial feminization (reduction in average brow ridge projection and shortening of the upper facial skeleton) in Homo sapiens from the Middle Pleistocene to recent times. We argue that temporal changes in human craniofacial morphology reflect reductions in average androgen reactivity (lower levels of adult circulating testosterone or reduced androgen receptor densities), which in turn reflect the evolution of enhanced social tolerance since the Middle Pleistocene.

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Crossref · 10.1086/677209

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Authors
Cieri, R. L., Churchill, S. E., Franciscus, R. G., Tan, J., & Hare, B.
Venue
Current Anthropology
Published
2014-08
Volume
55
Issue
4
Pages
419-443
ISSN
  • 0011-3204 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5382
OpenAlex
W2166591354
Cited by
195
References
259
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 3
FWCI
17.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Current Anthropology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
Keywords
social tolerance, behavioral modernity, testosterone, androgen receptor, craniofacial morphology, human population density, cultural evolution, Middle Pleistocene, human

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