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The Endocast of the Late Pleistocene Human Skull from Hofmeyr

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Hofmeyr

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

Endocasts provide the only direct evidence of brain morphology in hominin fossils. In this study, I used computed tomography data, biomedical image processing and geometric morphometrics to generate, reconstruct and investigate a digital endocast of the Late Pleistocene human individual from Hofmeyr, South Africa. Its estimated endocranial volume based on multiple reconstructions is 1,541 ± 10 ml. Impressions of brain convolutions reveal a modern human pattern of sulci and gyri including those in several brain regions that are associated with language functions. Several imprints of meningeal vessels are also preserved. The globular endocranial shape of the Hofmeyr individual conforms to the shape variation of present-day humans with morphometric affinities to Upper Paleolithic Eurasian fossils as well as present-day (southern) Africans.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Fred Grine for inviting me to contribute this chapter, Emiliano Bruner and Antoine Balzeau for constructive criticism during the review process, and Philipp Gunz and Jean-Jacques Hublin for interesting and stimulating discussions on hominin brain evolution. I am grateful to the scientists, curators and technicians who made possible the CT scanning of the fossils and the modern human crania, especially K. Cole, S. Wurz, S. J. Beningfield, N. Peters, L. Diaz and A. Pallini, D. Plotzki, A. Winzer, and J. J. Hublin. This work was supported by the Max Planck Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Johannes Kepler University, MED Campus I, ADM 4, Krankenhausstrasse 5, 4020, Linz, Austria

    Simon Neubauer

  2. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Simon Neubauer

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  1. Simon Neubauer
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Correspondence to Simon Neubauer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Anthropology and Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Frederick E. Grine

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Neubauer, S. (2022). The Endocast of the Late Pleistocene Human Skull from Hofmeyr. In: Grine, F.E. (eds) Hofmeyr. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07426-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07426-4_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-07425-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-07426-4

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