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New hominin dental remains from the Drimolen Main Quarry, South Africa (1999–2008)

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posted on 2023-07-05, 02:17 authored by Angeline LeeceAngeline Leece, Jess MartinJess Martin, Andrew HerriesAndrew Herries, A Riga, CG Menter, J Moggi-Cecchi
Objectives: Twenty-four dental specimens from the Drimolen Main Quarry (DMQ) are described. This increases the number of DMQ Paranthropus robustus specimens from 48 to 63 and DMQ Homo specimens from 8 to 12. This allows reassessment of the proposed differences between the DMQ P. robustus assemblage and that of Swartkrans. Analysis conducted assesses intraspecific and inter-locality variation. Materials and Methods: We examined the P. robustus and early Homo assemblages from South Africa. Morphology was observed using a hand lens and a binocular microscope. Mesiodistal and buccolingual measurements were taken using plastic-tipped calipers. Summary statistics were generated and patterns of variability in P. robustus were assessed through box plots and Mann–Whitney U tests. Results: Comparison between the expanded DMQ and Swartkrans P. robustus assemblages demonstrates overlap in size. Ten dental variables show statistically significant differences. Discussion: The expanded P. robustus sample allowed us to re-examine previous analyses of differences in tooth size between the samples. While analyses presented here show a high degree of overlap in the MD and BL dimensions of the two assemblages, significant differences were found in the mean values of these variables in the postcanine maxillary teeth—consistent with previous analyses. Two current hypotheses may explain this pattern: 1) dental size increase through the P. robustus lineage or 2) different sample composition between the two sites. Small sample sizes for all permanent dental classes in the DMQ assemblage represents a limitation on this analysis and interpretations thereof. Any addition to the DMQ or the Swartkrans samples may alter these results.

Funding

Australian Archaeological Association, Grant/Award Number: SRGS 2014; Australian Research Council, Grant/Award Numbers: Discovery grant DP170100056, Future Fellowship grant FT120100399; Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; La Trobe University, Grant/Award Number: IRGS

History

Publication Date

2022-10-01

Journal

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

Volume

179

Issue

2

Article Number

ajpa.24570

Pagination

21p. (p. 240-260)

Publisher

Wiley

ISSN

2692-7691

Rights Statement

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2022 The Authors. American Journal of Biological Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

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