The brain of Homo habilis:
three decades of paleoneurology
Emiliano Bruner & Amélie Beaudet 2023
JHE 174,103281
doi org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103281

Phillip Tobias (1987) published a comprehensive anatomical analysis of the endocasts attr.to H.habilis: brain size CC, sulcal patterns, vascular traces.
He suggested: the neuro-anatomy evidenced a clear change toward many cerebral traits ass.x with Homo, esp. frontal & parietal cortex morphology.
After >30 yrs, the fossil record ass.x this taxon has not grown that much,
but we have much more infm on cranial & brain biology,
we are using a larger array of digital methods to investigate the paleo-neurological variation observed in the human genus.

CC, frontal lobe size, or the gross hemispheric asymmetries are still relevant, but considered to be less central than before.
More attention is instead being paid to
- the cortical organization,
- the relationships with the cranial architecture,
- the influence of molecular or ecological factors.

Paleo-neurology can currently count on a larger range of tools & principles, but there is still a general lack of anatomical infm on many endocranial traits.
This aspect is probably crucial for the agenda of paleo-neurology.
The whole science is undergoing a delicate change, cf the growing influence of the social environment.
The disciplines working with fossils (brain evolution in particular) should
- take care to maintain a healthy professional situation,
- avoid an excess of speculation & overstatement.

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IMO, brain size is still very relevant (cf H.erectus Java seafood).
My good friend prof.Tobias had better called it Australopithecus habilis?

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[email protected] wrote:

IMO, brain size is still very relevant (cf H.erectus Java seafood).
My good friend prof.Tobias had better called it Australopithecus habilis?

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaz0032

I think size is an indication of Aquatic Ape, access to the Omega-3s,
but "Complexity" would have grown much more slowly.

: Their findings suggest that brain reorganization was not a prerequisite
: for dispersals from Africa

Just placing them on a beach, eating, gets them everywhere. But it's not necessary that they acquired what they are called "brain reorganization."
Being waterside, consuming that diet, they would have hit the ground
running when mutations arose. But even before they arose, they had
everything they needed to cross continents and grow larger brains.





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