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Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins

Nature volume 414, pages 628–631 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

A modern human-like sequence of dental development, as a proxy for the pace of life history, is regarded as one of the diagnostic hallmarks of our own genus Homo1,2,3. Brain size, age at first reproduction, lifespan and other life-history traits correlate tightly with dental development4,5,6. Here we report differences in enamel growth that show the earliest fossils attributed to Homo do not resemble modern humans in their development. We used daily incremental markings in enamel to calculate rates of enamel formation in 13 fossil hominins and identified differences in this key determinant of tooth formation time. Neither australopiths nor fossils currently attributed to early Homo shared the slow trajectory of enamel growth typical of modern humans; rather, both resembled modern and fossil African apes. We then reconstructed tooth formation times in australopiths, in the ∼1.5-Myr-old Homo erectus skeleton from Nariokotome, Kenya7, and in another Homo erectus specimen, Sangiran S7-37 from Java8. These times were shorter than those in modern humans. It therefore seems likely that truly modern dental development emerged relatively late in human evolution.

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Figure 1: Scatterplots with Lowess regressions of enamel formation rates for samples of hominins.
Figure 2: Timing of dental development in hominins.

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Acknowledgements

We thank The Government of Kenya; The National Museums of Kenya; Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; the Natural History Museum, London; and F. Thackeray of the Transvaal Museum, South Africa for access to fossil material. We thank D. Antoine, B. Berkovitz, D. Beynon, D. Clements, C. FitzGerald, L. Humphrey, J. Jernvall, J. Kelley, C. Kiarie, R. Krusynski, D. Lieberman, G. Macho, P. O'Higgins, J. Pendjiky, F. Ramirez Rozzi, H. Smith, P. Smith, F. Spoor, P. Walton and B. Wood for their help. This research was enabled by research grants to C.D. from the Royal Society and the Leverhulme Trust.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Evolutionary Anatomy Unit, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Christopher Dean

  2. Department of Palaeontology, National Museums of Kenya, PO Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya

    Meave G. Leakey

  3. Oral Biology, Dental School, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4BW, UK

    Donald Reid

  4. Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Palaeanthropologie, Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt am Main, D-60325, Germany

    Friedemann Schrenk

  5. Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, 2110 G Street, NW, Washington, 20052, DC, USA

    Gary T. Schwartz

  6. Department of Palaeontology, Human Origins Group, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Christopher Stringer

  7. Anthropology Department, 409 Carpenter Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan Walker

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Correspondence to Christopher Dean.

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Dean, C., Leakey, M., Reid, D. et al. Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins. Nature 414, 628–631 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/414628a

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