Bookstein FL

Connolly CJ

Coqueugniot H

Cunnane SC

Dean MC

Enlow DH

Froehle AW

Gurven M

Holliday MA

Holloway RL

Hrdy S

Jean-Jacques Hublin

Kimbel WH

Leigh SR

Martin RD

Mink JW

Nelson AJ

Philipp Gunz

Robson SL

Sasaki C

Simon Neubauer

Smith GE

Teffer K

Thompson JL

Von Koenigswald GHR

Walker A

A high level of encephalization is critical to the human adaptive niche and emerged among hominins over the course of the past 2 Myr. Evolving larger brains required important adaptive adjustments, in particular regarding energy allocation and life history. These adaptations included a relatively small brain at birth and a protracted growth of highly dependent offspring within a complex social environment. In turn, the extended period of growth and delayed maturation of the brain structures of humans contribute to their cognitive complexity. The current palaeoanthropological evidence shows that, regarding life history and brain ontogeny, the Pleistocene hominin taxa display different patterns and that one cannot simply contrast an ‘ape-model’ to a ‘human-model’. Large-brained hominins such as Upper Pleistocene Neandertals have evolved along their own evolutionary pathway and can be distinguished from modern humans in terms of growth pattern and brain development. The life-history pattern and brain ontogeny of extant humans emerged only recently in the course of human evolution.</jats:p

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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

Brain ontogeny and life history in Pleistocene hominins

Brain ontogeny and life history in Pleistocene hominins

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