Introduction

This chapter reviews studies of juvenile dental, cranial, and postcranial remains, along with aspects of life history or demography that relate to juvenile individuals, from Lower and Middle Pleistocene members of the genus Homo (i.e., Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo antecessor, and Homo heidelbergensis). It is understood that these species names are not uniformly accepted by all paleoanthropologists, and that there is disagreement about what fossil specimens belong in each taxon. However, use of these species names allows for a much clearer discussion than using vague terms like “early Homo,” which has been variably used to refer to specimens of H. habilis and/or H. erectus. Additionally, as will be seen by the end of this review, there are large developmental differences between these groups that appear to justify discussion in these categories.

To set the stage for what we know about growth and development in the genus Homo, Kuykendall (this volume) reviews what is currently known about growth and development in robust and gracile australopithecines. Much of the research focuses on dental development, particularly aspects of timing and rate, and the relationship between dental development and life-history stages. Although it is clear that the australopithecines had unique developmental patterns that were unlike living apes or humans, on the whole they still matured following a faster, more “ape-like” life-history schedule and did not have the extended period of growth and development commonly associated with modern humans.