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5. Ancient craniological polymorphism of the African continent and the problems of its interpretation

Ancient craniological polymorphism of the African continent and the problems of its interpretation

Bakholdina V.Yu.

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Department of Anthropology, Leninskie Gory, 1(12)7 Moscow, 119234, Russia

Bakholdina Varvara Yu., DSc.; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3320-1445; vbaholdina@mail.ru

Abstract

Introduction. New facts on paleoanthropology, genetics and archaeology of the African region require their comprehension in line with the existing theoretical concepts of Russian and foreign authors. Materials and methods. The latest data on paleoanthropological finds from the African continent of the Middle and Late Pleistocene period are considered in the article with the application of comparative morphological and hypothetical-deductive methods to their analysis. Results. Craniological polymorphism of the ancient population of Africa is of particular importance in solving the problems of the evolution of Homo sapiens. All the African finds considered in the work are divided into two main groups – the earlier one, dating from the end of the Middle Pleistocene, and the Late Pleistocene. The results of the possibilities of using various theoretical methodological approaches to the creation of evolutionary models are analyzed. For the interpretation of African craniological polymorphism, the most promising is the concept of G. Bräuer, which largely intersects with the theoretical constructions of V.V. Bunak and A.A. Zubov. The concepts of these researchers create a real theoretical basis for discussing the idea of the so-called "African multiregionalism", proposed today as an alternative to recent ideas about the East African center of Homo sapiens formation. Conclusion. A high level of craniological differentiation is found on the African continent already at the earliest stages of the appearance of the genus Homo. The complex picture of the epochal dynamics of craniological African polymorphism poses a number of questions to modern researchers, including the question of morphological criteria of the species Homo sapiens, the most relevant for modern physical evolutionary anthropology.

Keywords

craniological polymorphism; paleoanthropological findings in Africa; Middle and Late Pleistocene; theoretical concepts of the formation of Homo sapiens species; multiregionalism

DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2022.1.102-111

Цит.: Bakholdina V.Yu. Ancient craniological polymorphism of the African continent and the problems of its interpretation // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2022; 1/2022; с. 102-111 (Published: June 23, 2022)