Book contents
- African Genesis:
- Series page
- African Genesis
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 African Genesis: an evolving paradigm
- 2 Academic genealogy
- Part I In search of origins: evolutionary theory, new species and paths into the past
- Part II Hominin morphology through time: brains, bodies and teeth
- 8 Hominin brain evolution, 1925–2011: an emerging overview
- 9 The issue of brain reorganisation in Australopithecus and early hominids: Dart had it right
- 10 The mass of the human brain: is it a spandrel?
- 11 Origin and diversity of early hominin bipedalism
- 12 Forelimb adaptations in Australopithecus afarensis
- 13 Hominin proximal femur morphology from the Tugen Hills to Flores
- 14 Daily rates of dentine formation and root extension rates in Paranthropus boisei, KNM-ER 1817, from Koobi Fora, Kenya
- 15 On the evolutionary development of early hominid molar teeth and the Gondolin Paranthropus molar
- 16 Digital South African fossils: morphological studies using reference-based reconstruction and electronic preparation
- Part III Modern human origins: patterns and processes
- Part IV In search of context: hominin environments, behaviour and lithic cultures
- Index
- Plate Section
15 - On the evolutionary development of early hominid molar teeth and the Gondolin Paranthropus molar
from Part II - Hominin morphology through time: brains, bodies and teeth
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2012
- African Genesis:
- Series page
- African Genesis
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 African Genesis: an evolving paradigm
- 2 Academic genealogy
- Part I In search of origins: evolutionary theory, new species and paths into the past
- Part II Hominin morphology through time: brains, bodies and teeth
- 8 Hominin brain evolution, 1925–2011: an emerging overview
- 9 The issue of brain reorganisation in Australopithecus and early hominids: Dart had it right
- 10 The mass of the human brain: is it a spandrel?
- 11 Origin and diversity of early hominin bipedalism
- 12 Forelimb adaptations in Australopithecus afarensis
- 13 Hominin proximal femur morphology from the Tugen Hills to Flores
- 14 Daily rates of dentine formation and root extension rates in Paranthropus boisei, KNM-ER 1817, from Koobi Fora, Kenya
- 15 On the evolutionary development of early hominid molar teeth and the Gondolin Paranthropus molar
- 16 Digital South African fossils: morphological studies using reference-based reconstruction and electronic preparation
- Part III Modern human origins: patterns and processes
- Part IV In search of context: hominin environments, behaviour and lithic cultures
- Index
- Plate Section
Summary
In 1997 two isolated hominid molars were recovered from the Plio-Pleistocene site named Gondolin, in the North West Province, South Africa. One of these teeth (GDA-2) is a left mandibular M2 that was characterised as Paranthropus sp. indet. (Menter et al., 1999). A more specific taxonomic affiliation was not considered because a number of enigmatic morphological features of GDA-2 are normally attributed to ‘hyper-robust’ east African Paranthropus taxa, in particular its large crown size and the presence of two distal accessory (C6) cusps. This chapter presents a discussion of research in the evolutionary development of teeth, focusing on developmental processes relating to molar tooth crown size and cusp morphology. Details of the GDA-2 crown and cusp morphology are discussed in the context of enamel–dentine junction (EDJ) formation, enamel knots and related aspects of a tooth’s developmental biology. This approach is useful in furthering our understanding of early hominid variation, adaptation and development.
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- Chapter
- Information
- African GenesisPerspectives on Hominin Evolution, pp. 280 - 297Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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