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Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Dean

    (Evolutionary Anatomy Unit, University College London)

  • Meave G. Leakey

    (National Museums of Kenya)

  • Donald Reid

    (Oral Biology, Dental School)

  • Friedemann Schrenk

    (Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Palaeanthropologie)

  • Gary T. Schwartz

    (The George Washington University)

  • Christopher Stringer

    (Human Origins Group, The Natural History Museum)

  • Alan Walker

    (409 Carpenter Building, Pennsylvania State University)

Abstract

A modern human-like sequence of dental development, as a proxy for the pace of life history, is regarded as one of the diagnostic hallmarks of our own genus Homo1,2,3. Brain size, age at first reproduction, lifespan and other life-history traits correlate tightly with dental development4,5,6. Here we report differences in enamel growth that show the earliest fossils attributed to Homo do not resemble modern humans in their development. We used daily incremental markings in enamel to calculate rates of enamel formation in 13 fossil hominins and identified differences in this key determinant of tooth formation time. Neither australopiths nor fossils currently attributed to early Homo shared the slow trajectory of enamel growth typical of modern humans; rather, both resembled modern and fossil African apes. We then reconstructed tooth formation times in australopiths, in the ∼1.5-Myr-old Homo erectus skeleton from Nariokotome, Kenya7, and in another Homo erectus specimen, Sangiran S7-37 from Java8. These times were shorter than those in modern humans. It therefore seems likely that truly modern dental development emerged relatively late in human evolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Dean & Meave G. Leakey & Donald Reid & Friedemann Schrenk & Gary T. Schwartz & Christopher Stringer & Alan Walker, 2001. "Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins," Nature, Nature, vol. 414(6864), pages 628-631, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:414:y:2001:i:6864:d:10.1038_414628a
    DOI: 10.1038/414628a
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    Cited by:

    1. Laura Martín-Francés & María Martinón-Torres & Marina Martínez de Pinillos & Cecilia García-Campos & Clément Zanolli & Priscilla Bayle & Mario Modesto-Mata & Juan Luis Arsuaga & José María Bermúdez de, 2020. "Crown tissue proportions and enamel thickness distribution in the Middle Pleistocene hominin molars from Sima de los Huesos (SH) population (Atapuerca, Spain)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-35, June.

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