Continuity and discontinuity during hominization

Anne Dambricourt-Malassé (1, 2, 3)

1 Département de Préhistoire
2 IPH - Institut de Paléontologie Humaine
3 L' homme préhistorique : son évolution, son milieu, ses activités

Recent observations on an ontogenetic craniofacial phenomenon have led to new concepts of facial morphogenesis and to recognition of a process called craniofacial contraction. This begins at embryogenesis, in association with the growth of the brain. The degree of craniofacial contraction is acquired in major part during embryogenesis. It separates the living primates into four ontogenic levels: prosimians, monkeys, apes and Homo sapiens ('Sapiens'). The phenomenon is modeled and quantified using an architectural analysis, the double pantograph. The hypothesis is that hominization represents a continous phenomenon from fossil apes to Sapiens, î.e. an increase in the embryonic contraction, but with discontinous effects, i.e. ontogenic organization plans. The fossil hominid record verifies the hypothesis. Hominization appears as a continuons process of craniofacial contraction, with three ontogenic thresholds: Australopithecus, Homo and Sapiens. Neanderthal man is not Sapiens. He results from a decrease in the embryonic contraction of Homo erectus, in association with an impoverishment of the meningeal vascularization. Sapiens does not emerge before skulls such as Qafzeh. The increase in endocranial capacity in Homo does not alone allow us to define an evolutionary trend in Sapiens. The concept of archaic H. sapiens has no ontogenic reality.

Mots clés: Hominization; morphogenesis; embryogeny; punctuated equilibria

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire; Morphogenèse

Anne Dambricourt-Malassé. Continuity and discontinuity during hominization. Quaternary International, 1993, 19, pp.85-98. ⟨10.406182/93⟩. ⟨halshs-00425054⟩