LB1's virtual endocast, microcephaly, and hominin brain evolution

Title
LB1's virtual endocast, microcephaly, and hominin brain evolution
Publication Date
2009
Author(s)
Falk, Dean
Hildebolt, Charles
Smith, Kirk
Morwood, M J
Sutikna, Thomas
Jatmiko, Jatmiko
Wayhu Saptomo, E
Prior, Fred
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Academic Press
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.10.008
UNE publication id
une:16530
Abstract

Earlier observations of the virtual endocast of LB1, the type specimen for Homo floresiensis, are reviewed, extended, and interpreted. Seven derived features of LB1’s cerebral cortex are detailed: a caudally positioned occipital lobe, lack of a rostrally-located lunate sulcus, a caudally-expanded temporal lobe, advanced morphology of the lateral prefrontal cortex, shape of the rostral prefrontal cortex, enlarged gyri in the frontopolar region, and an expanded orbitofrontal cortex. These features indicate that LB1’s brain was globally reorganized despite its ape-sized cranial capacity (417 cm3 ). Neurological reorganization may thus form the basis for the cognitive abilities attributed to H. floresiensis. Because of its tiny cranial capacity, some workers think that LB1 represents a Homo sapiens individual that was afflicted with microcephaly, or some other pathology, rather than a new species of hominin. We respond to concerns about our earlier study of microcephalics compared with normal individuals, and reaffirm that LB1 did not suffer from this pathology. The intense controversy about LB1 reflects an older continuing dispute about the relative evolutionary importance of brain size versus neurological reorganization. LB1 may help resolve this debate and illuminate constraints that governed hominin brain evolution.

Link
Citation
Journal of Human Evolution, 57(5), p. 597-607
ISSN
1095-8606
0047-2484
Start page
597
End page
607

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