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a gradual change in 'Homo sapiens', from an elongated form of the endocranium to a more globular

Evolution of the brain form

Evolution of the brain form in Homo sapiens: the brain form of one of the oldest known members of our species, from a 300,000 year old skull of Jebel Irhoud (left). The brain form and possibly brain function have gradually evolved to reach the typical globular shape present in modern humans (right).

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The announcement, last June, of the discovery of the oldest fossils of Homo sapiens, our species, some 300,000 years old and excavated in Jebel Irhoud (Morocco), It was recently considered one of the 10 major scientific events of 2017. These fossil remains, in addition to the skull of Florisbad (South Africa), about 259,000 years old, and the fossils of the archaeological site of Omo Kibish (Ethiopia), about 195,000 years old, reveal the early evolutionary phase of Homo sapiens in the African continent.

The face and teeth of these fossils look modern, but the elongated cranial cavities seem more archaic, like those of other older human species or those of the Neanderthals. However, they have globular cranial cavities, a feature of the skull of modern humans along with small, graceful faces.

In a study published in Science Advances, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig reveals new and surprising findings about the brain evolution of Homo sapiens, as announced today by the German institute. The paleoanthropologist Simon Neubauer and his colleagues have documented a gradual change in Homo sapiens, from an elongated form of the endocranium to a more globular one. Only fossils with more recent dates at 35,000 years of age show the same globular form as modern humans, suggesting that the organization of the modern brain evolved at some time between 100,000 and 35,000 years ago.

But scientists have highlighted something really important: those changes in the shape of the skull evolved regardless of the size of the brain. "We already knew that the shape of the brain must have evolved in our own species, but we were surprised to discover how recently these changes in brain organization occurred," says Neubauer.

Brain of a human and a Neanderthal

"Comparison of a human brain with a Neanderthal one, with its typical elongated cranial cavity."

The new findings are consistent with recent genetic studies showing changes in genes related to brain development in our lineage since the population was divided into Homo sapiens and Neandertals. They add new archaeological and paleoanthropological evidences that demonstrate that Homo sapiens is an evolutionary species with deep African roots and with gradual and lasting changes in the behavioral modernity, cerebral organization and potential functioning of the brain.

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