First Early Hominin from Central Africa (Ishango, Democratic Republic of Congo)

Despite uncontested evidence for fossils belonging to the early hominin genus Australopithecus in East Africa from at least 4.2 million years ago (Ma), and from Chad by 3.5 Ma, thus far there has been no convincing evidence of Australopithecus, Paranthropus or early Homo from the western (Albertine) branch of the Rift Valley. Here we report the discovery of an isolated upper molar (#Ish25) from the Western Rift Valley site of Ishango in Central Africa in a derived context, overlying beds dated to between ca. 2.6 to 2.0 Ma. We used µCT imaging to compare its external and internal macro-morphology to upper molars of australopiths, and fossil and recent Homo. We show that the size and shape of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) surface discriminate between Plio-Pleistocene and post-Lower Pleistocene hominins, and that the Ishango molar clusters with australopiths and early Homo from East and southern Africa. A reassessment of the archaeological context of the specimen is consistent with the morphological evidence and suggest that early hominins were occupying this region by at least 2 Ma

Ellipses équiprobables dans le cas de petits échantillons

Cleuvenot Emmanuel. Ellipses équiprobables dans le cas de petits échantillons. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, Nouvelle Série. Tome 5 fascicule 3-4, 1993. pp. 449-452

Proposition de nouvelles équations d'estimation de stature applicables pour un sexe indéterminé, et basées sur les échantillons de Trotter et Gleser.

Summary. — The parameters published by Trotter and Gleser (1952 and 1958) were used to propose new equations for estimating stature from long bone lengths. The statistics of Afroamerican and Euramerican were combined in order to obtain equations applicable to samples of unknown sex. We used linear regression and organic correlation. The latter is a more accurate approach to the functionnal relationship between two interdependent variables, regardless of the covariance error. Thus, those equations may be applied to samples which are different from the reference sample. Finally a test of limb proportions focusing on the femur length and taking into account the range of variation of the reference sample is presented.Résumé. — Les données publiées par Trotter et Gleser en 1952 et 1958 ont été reprises pour proposer de nouvelles équations d'estimation de stature à partir des os longs des membres. Après avoir testé les paramètres statistiques, nous avons calculé des équations applicables dans le cas d'un sexe indéterminé. Les méthodes sont celles de la régression linéaire et de la droite des moindres rectangles, celle-ci étant plus appropriée quand il s'agit d'approcher, indépendamment de l'erreur sur la covariance, la relation fonctionnelle de variables liées réciproquement. Par ailleurs nous proposons de vérifier que la proportionnalité des os longs au fémur de l'individu de stature inconnue entre bien dans la variabilité de la population de référence.Cleuvenot Emmanuel, Houët Francis. Proposition de nouvelles équations d'estimation de stature applicables pour un sexe indéterminé, et basées sur les échantillons de Trotter et Gleser.. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, Nouvelle Série. Tome 5 fascicule 1-2, 1993. pp. 245-255

The three oralTori in the Coimbra population (Portugal) at the beginning of the XXth century A.D.

The remarkable anthropological series formed by E. Tamagnini at the Universidade de Coimbra consists of the exhumed human remains from “La Conchada” cemetery, in Coimbra (Northern Portugal). From this collection, only those individuals coming from the different districts of Coimbra, where they also lived and died, were selected for study. The resulting series was made of by 483 individuals: 234 women and 249 men. The personal data sheets indicate that these people died between 1910 and 1938; their professions, age at death and its cause are also noted. They can be considered as a relatively homogeneous group of low socioeconomical level. The study of the three oraltori demonstrated the high frequencies of all of them, the absence of sexual dimorphism and only a few statistically significant differences between some of the age classes considered. The possible etiological factors (genetical and/or environmental) are also discussed

Note sur la révision des moyens techniques permettant d'acquérir des données anthropométriques en contexte préventif

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La sépulture multiple laténienne du site de Gondole (Le Centre, Puy-de-Dôme)

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