Nouvelles approches de l'évolution crânienne des Homo erectus de Java

Anne Dambricourt Malassé (1)

1 IPH - Institut de Paléontologie Humaine

The fossil cranium represente a highly organized state of a dynamic System which achieved its structure beginning with the organization of the embryo. Angular values acquired during early embryogenie stages are still measurable on the adull skull. The cranio-facial architecture was studied on a population including Pan, modem humans and fossil hominids. The Sangiran 17 skull, as well as Hanoman 13 mandible reveal a strong 'extension ' stage. They are chronologically followed by more progressive hominids such as the Ngandong and Ngawi fossils whose architectural parameters enter the values found for the African Homo erectus. Contrary to the European Neanderthals, who followed a marked 'extension ' evolutionary trend before their extinction, the late Javanese Homo erectus present a cranio-facial equilibrium. Therefore, they could be as well at the origin of the development of a new, sapiens-like embryogenesis, and the polycentric evolutionary hypothesis cannot be discarded.

Mots clés: évolution crânienne; développement embryonnaire : homo erectus; flexion sphénoïdale; architecture basi-cranio-faciale

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire; Evolution [q-bio.PE]

Anne Dambricourt Malassé. Nouvelles approches de l'évolution crânienne des Homo erectus de Java. CNRS, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères ; Ministère de l'Eduction Nationale ; Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication. Origine des peuplements et chronologie des cultures paléolithiques dans le sud-est asiatique, Artcom', pp.377-396, 2001. ⟨halshs-00439869⟩