 Measuring skull of an Andaman Islander at the Anthropological Survey of India, Calcutta. |
My dissertation research seeks to identify patterns geographic variation in the frontal bone of Middle Pleistocene hominids. Specifically, I am looking to see if variation in this bone follows a discrete vs. a continuous pattern across regions of the Old World and through time. Understanding the nature of this variation can contribute to a greater understanding of the evolutionary history of these hominids, whose taxonomic status is still disputed. My study includes all of those fossils dated from between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, often referred to as “archaic” Homo sapiens or Homo heidelbergensis. This research, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Science Foundation (Grant BCS 0004193), and the Sigma Xi Foundation, has taken me to museums and universities in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
To measure the frontal bone, I am using a morphometric technique known as Fourier analysis. This method is useful for studies such as mine, because it is a means of quantifying curves instead of straight lines. Fourier analysis requires data collection in the form of bounded outlines, so I worked with Jim Kondrat at Paleo-Tech Concepts in Illinois to invent an instrument that could trace an outline of the skull onto a piece of paper, much like a dioptrograph. The outlines are then entered into the Fourier analysis program, written by Pete Lestrel at UCLA, using a 2-D digitizer. The resulting measurements then become the data that I analyze statistically to determine what patterns, if any, exist among these fossils.
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With Homo erectus statue in front of the Zhoukoudian Museum, at Zhoukoudian, outside of Beijing.