Hominid growth and development: The modern context

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511542565.007

7 - Hominid growth and development: The modern context

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2009

A. J. Nelson and

Edited by

G. E. Krovitz and

J. L. Thompson: Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
A. J. Nelson: Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
G. E. Krovitz: Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
J. L. Thompson: Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
G. E. Krovitz: Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
A. J. Nelson: Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario

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Summary

Arm length varies among humans, and some people must have longer arms than others. The average chimp has a longer arm than the average human, but this doesn't mean that a relatively long-armed human is genetically similar to apes. Normal variation within a population is a different biological phenomenon from differences in average values between populations.

(Gould, 1981: 127)

Introduction

The above quotation, from Stephen Jay Gould, is a good starting-point for any discussion of the evolution of human ontogeny. This is because we must integrate an understanding of within- and between-population variation in addressing the questions of when and how the modern human pattern of growth and development first appeared. However, before we can even attempt to address this question, we must first consider: What is the modern human pattern of growth and development? What aspects of growth and development make modern humans unique? Inevitably, what we attempt to do is to characterize what constitutes the average pattern. Such an approach, to typify a species, is a common practice in paleoanthropology. We use similarities, differences, and unique features to distinguish between different species, and even genera. Hence the practice of using a “type specimen,” an individual fossil against which all others are compared to determine their species attribution, in the naming of a new fossil species. A similar approach is used in auxological paleontology (Bogin, this volume; Tillier, 2000), a term used to describe research into patterns of growth and development of fossil species.

Type: Chapter
Information: Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo , pp. 170 - 188

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511542565.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2003

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