Autor según el artículo: Montiel, G; Lorenzo, C
Departamento: Història i Història de l'Art
Autor/es de la URV: Lorenzo Merino, Carlos
Palabras clave: Virtual reconstruction Ndutu Lake ndutu Human evolution Evolutionary
Resumen: The Ndutu cranium is a partial, fragmented, and distorted hominin specimen from the Lake Ndutu site in Tanzania. It was first reconstructed by R. J. Clarke in 1976 and later revisited using now-outdated techniques. Consequently, features such as facial projection, cranial height/length, and cranial flexion are contestable. Here, we present a new virtual reconstruction following a transparent and replicable approach that employs virtual anthropology techniques to reassemble, mirror, digitally align, complete the cranium, and remove the effect of plastic deformation. Before deciding on an approach to align the unarticulated fragments, we tested the effects of symmetrization and the use of surface semilandmarks on the performance of our tool of choice: the digital alignment tool (DTA), developed by A. Profico and colleagues in 2019. Upon completion, we compare our reconstruction to a sample of Pleistocene hominin crania via geometric morphometrics. Test results reveal that DTA performance varies by fragment and that the use of surface semilandmarks bears no statistically significant advantage. We found our reconstruction to boast a more prognate and narrower face with a less flexed cranium overall than previous reconstruction efforts. The shape of the reconstructed cranial vault of Ndutu resulted closest to Sima de los Huesos (SH) 5, while its sagittal profile was most similar to Kabwe's, lending support to J. L. Arsuaga and colleagues' 1997 work and to P. Rightmire's, respectively. We warn that further work is necessary before settling the debate surrounding Ndutu's phylogeny. However, if our reconstruction hypothesis is held, its inclusion in future morphological studies is granted.
Áreas temáticas: Multidisciplinary sciences Materials science (miscellaneous) Humanities, multidisciplinary Conservation Archeology (arts and humanities)
Acceso a la licencia de uso: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
Direcció de correo del autor: carlos.lorenzo@urv.cat
Identificador del autor: 0000-0001-5706-293X
Fecha de alta del registro: 2024-06-22
Versión del articulo depositado: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Enlace a la fuente original: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/6/3/151
URL Documento de licencia: http://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Referencia al articulo segun fuente origial: Heritage (Basel). 6 (3): 2822-2850
Referencia de l'ítem segons les normes APA: Montiel, G; Lorenzo, C (2023). A New Virtual Reconstruction of the Ndutu Cranium. Heritage (Basel), 6(3), 2822-2850. DOI: 10.3390/heritage6030151
DOI del artículo: 10.3390/heritage6030151
Entidad: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Año de publicación de la revista: 2023
Tipo de publicación: Journal Publications
Repositori URV