@article{ffb0c41c7ac84bfe828f18988201130f,
title = "Lower limb articular scaling and body mass estimation in Pliocene and Pleistocene hominins",
abstract = "Previous attempts to estimate body mass in pre-Holocene hominins have relied on prediction equations derived from relatively limited extant samples. Here we derive new equations to predict body mass from femoral head breadth and proximal tibial plateau breadth based on a large and diverse sample of modern humans (avoiding the problems associated with using diaphyseal dimensions and/or cadaveric reference samples). In addition, an adjustment for the relatively small femoral heads of non-Homo taxa is developed based on observed differences in hip to knee joint scaling. Body mass is then estimated for 214 terminal Miocene through Pleistocene hominin specimens. Mean body masses for non-Homo taxa range between 39 and 49 kg (39–45 kg if sex-specific means are averaged), with no consistent temporal trend (6–1.85 Ma). Mean body mass increases in early Homo (2.04–1.77 Ma) to 55–59 kg, and then again dramatically in Homo erectus and later archaic middle Pleistocene Homo, to about 70 kg. The same average body mass is maintained in late Pleistocene archaic Homo and early anatomically modern humans through the early/middle Upper Paleolithic (0.024 Ma), only declining in the late Upper Paleolithic, with regional variation. Sexual dimorphism in body mass is greatest in Australopithecus afarensis (log[male/female] = 1.54), declines in Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus (log ratio 1.36), and then again in early Homo and middle and late Pleistocene archaic Homo (log ratio 1.20–1.27), although it remains somewhat elevated above that of living and middle/late Pleistocene anatomically modern humans (log ratio about 1.15).",
keywords = "Allometry, Australopith, Body size, Homo, Sexual dimorphism",
author = "Ruff, {Christopher B.} and Burgess, {M. Loring} and Nicole Squyres and Junno, {Juho Antti} and Erik Trinkaus",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank Mark Collard and Mark Grabowski for useful discussions and clarifications; Martin Haeusler, Ashley Hammond, Terry Harrison, Mike Plavcan, Herman Pontzer, Laura Rodr{\'i}guez, Antonio Rosas, Laura L. Shackelford, S{\'e}bastien Villotte, and Carol Ward for providing measurements and other information on fossil specimens; Helen Kurki and Jay Stock for providing Late Stone Age data; Heather Garvin, David Hunt, and Bill Schaffer for information on cadaveric and living human samples; Brigitte Holt, Markku Niskanen, Vladimir Sl{\'a}dek, and Margit Berner for collaboration in collecting modern European comparative data; Shannon McFarlin for collaboration in collecting gorilla comparative data; and all of the museum curators who facilitated access to collections. Two reviewers and the editor provided useful suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper. Supported by NSF BCS-0642297 , BCS-1316104 and SBR-9318702 , the Leakey Foundation , and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research 8657 and ICRG-14. We gratefully acknowledge the Rwandan government for permission to study skeletal remains curated by the Mountain Gorilla Skeletal Project (MGSP). The MGSP Collection has been made possible by funding from the National Science Foundation ( BCS-0852866 , BCS-0964944 , BCS-1520221 ), National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration (8486-08), and The Leakey Foundation, and infrastructural support from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International's (DFGFI) Karisoke Research Center, and the continuous efforts of researchers, staff, and students from the Rwanda Development Board's Department of Tourism and Conservation, Gorilla Doctors, DFGFI, The George Washington University, New York University College of Dentistry, Institute of National Museums of Rwanda, and other universities in Rwanda and the U.S.A. Funding Information: We would like to thank Mark Collard and Mark Grabowski for useful discussions and clarifications; Martin Haeusler, Ashley Hammond, Terry Harrison, Mike Plavcan, Herman Pontzer, Laura Rodr?guez, Antonio Rosas, Laura L. Shackelford, S?bastien Villotte, and Carol Ward for providing measurements and other information on fossil specimens; Helen Kurki and Jay Stock for providing Late Stone Age data; Heather Garvin, David Hunt, and Bill Schaffer for information on cadaveric and living human samples; Brigitte Holt, Markku Niskanen, Vladimir Sl?dek, and Margit Berner for collaboration in collecting modern European comparative data; Shannon McFarlin for collaboration in collecting gorilla comparative data; and all of the museum curators who facilitated access to collections. Two reviewers and the editor provided useful suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper. Supported by NSF BCS-0642297, BCS-1316104 and SBR-9318702, the Leakey Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research 8657 and ICRG-14. We gratefully acknowledge the Rwandan government for permission to study skeletal remains curated by the Mountain Gorilla Skeletal Project (MGSP). The MGSP Collection has been made possible by funding from the National Science Foundation (BCS-0852866, BCS-0964944, BCS-1520221), National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration (8486-08), and The Leakey Foundation, and infrastructural support from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International's (DFGFI) Karisoke Research Center, and the continuous efforts of researchers, staff, and students from the Rwanda Development Board's Department of Tourism and Conservation, Gorilla Doctors, DFGFI, The George Washington University, New York University College of Dentistry, Institute of National Museums of Rwanda, and other universities in Rwanda and the U.S.A. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Elsevier Ltd",
year = "2018",
month = feb,
doi = "10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.014",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "115",
pages = "85--111",
journal = "Journal of Human Evolution",
issn = "0047-2484",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",
}