Pygmoid Australomelanesian Homo sapiens skeletal remains from Liang Bua, Flores: Population affinities and pathological abnormalities

Jacob et al. 10.1073/pnas.0605563103.

Supporting Information

Files in this Data Supplement:

Supporting Table 1
Supporting Text
Supporting Figure 7

Fig. 7. Craniofacial asymmetry signs in LB1. (A) Palate rotation. The LB1 skull in inferior view shows rotation of the palate. The dashed black line is determined by projection from opisthion to basion and then extended anteriorly, passing through staphylion at the rear of the hard palate and then well to the left of the midline. The red line angles from staphylion to approximately orale, then extended posteriorly, passing only obliquely through the foramen magnum. The two lines diverge by »4-5°. Note also angulation in transverse plane of posterior border of the palatine bone. (B) Bilateral metric differences from frontal view (see also Fig. 2). Because of damage to the LB1 skull during burial, excavation, and reconstruction, plus the advanced degree of fusion in many sutures, "...it is not possible to locate most of the standard craniometric landmarks with great precision" (1). The list below comprises measurements, some nonstandard, between points that could be located bilaterally on a digital photograph; note that these measurements could differ from absolute dimensions on the skull itself, but antimeric relationships should be approximately constant.

	Right side, pixels	Left side, pixels	Total distance, pixels	R - L, pixels	R/L, %
Maximum cranial breadth	286	255	541	31	112.16
Orbital lateral rim distance	185	197	382	-12	93.91
Infraorbital foramen distance	117	112	229	5	104.46
Piriform aperture breadth	52	48	100	4	108.33
Maxilloalveolar breadth	140	129	269	11	108.53
Maxillary bicanine breadth	75	58	133	17	129.31
Mental foramen distance	102	73	175	29	139.73

The digital image was reproduced full size on the computer screen to establish points for measurement. Corresponding points were located on opposite sides of the midline, established operationally as a vertical axis from vertex to gnathion. Lateral deviations from this axis are given in pixels rather than absolute units (millimeters) to eliminate or minimize differences in depth of field for measurements taken in various frontal planes; bilateral differences, located in any given plane, would not be affected disproportionately. The distance between most pairs of points was calculated by adding the distances along the x axis in pixels of the two paired points from the midline. In several cases where the bilateral points differed marginally along the y axis, Euclidean distances between the points also were calculated but are not reported here because none differed by more than a fraction of one pixel. Because the measurement of maxilloalveolar breadth (52.5 mm) taken by E.I. on the original skull was used to calibrate image size on the screen, that dimension can be expressed not only in pixels but also in millimeters: right side to midline = 27.32 mm, left side to midline = 25.18 mm, giving an absolute difference of 2.14 mm or an R/L difference of 8.53%. Note that these differences are two or more times the levels of asymmetry accepted as normal in anthropological and clinical contexts, as documented in the text.

Table 1. LB1 cranial traits compared with Aboriginal Australians

		Expression in Aboriginal Australians
Trait name	Expression in LB1	Females		Males
Crania
Cranial contour	Short ovoid	16.0		10.9
Prominence of superciliary ridges	Small	90.4		15.4
Prominence of zygomatic trigone	Medium	25.0		26.6
Ophryionic groove	Medium	5.8		15.4
Prominence of temporal crests	Slight	59.6		13.8
Metopic suture	Absent	92.3		98.4
Median frontal ridge	Slight	32.7		29.0
Recession of forehead	Medium	44.2		27.4
Supraorbital notches and foramina	Notches bilaterally	72.5		88.7
Size of the anterior nasal spine	Grade 2	46.9		46.5
Expression of the anterior nasal spine	Rudimentary	40.8		22.4
Inferior border of anterior nasal aperture	Type 2	42.9		54.4
Lacrimal bone form	Normal	92.0		69.0
Grant's lacrimal foramen	Absent	81.7		78.4
Inferior orbital fissure form	Sides diverge	45.5		56.0
Maximum width of inferior orbital fissure narrow	18.6	30.0
Failure of malar bone to reach lateral boundary of inferior orbital fissure	Normal	72.4		53.3
Infraorbital suture	Complete	39.1		18.4
Infraorbital foramen	Single	91.3		87.3
Depth of infraorbital fossa	Medium	36.0		37.7
Subnasal prognathism	Medium	42.0		52.6
Size of malar bones	Medium	54.2		65.6
Prominence of malar tuberosity	Slight	70.2		20.3
Eversion of lower border of malar bone	Moderate	38.1		45.1
Relative sizes of the malar foramina	Left larger	19.0		16.0
Sharpness of orbital border of malar bone	Rounded	83.7		78.5
Prominence of the marginal process of the malar bone	Medium	51.0		49.1
Squamous temporal fossa	Flat	66.0		73.0
Development of the zygomatic arches	Medium	22.6		60.5
Shape of the external acoustic meatus	Oval	71.7		77.0
Martin's types of external acoustic meatus	Type 3	81.2		77.8
Thickness of tympanic bone at margin of the external auditory meatus	Medium	66.0		75.4
Foramen of Huschke	Absent	85.6		90.0
Depth of glenoid fossa	Shallow	34.9		19.0
Size of postglenoid tubercle	Medium	53.1		35.2
Length of styloid process	Absent	15.7		15.0
Size of mastoid process	Very small	50.0		7.7
Mastoid crest	Absent	78.0		43.9
Size of juxtamastoid process	Small	57.6		33.6
Suprameatal ridge	Nil or trace	55.1		36.9
Size of occipitomastoid crest	Small or trace	23.9		23.7
Width of digastric fossa	Narrow	51.1		56.4
Angular torus	Absent	84.2		67.0
Mastoid foramen	Absent	50.0		29.2
Prominence of supramastoid crest	Slight	60.0		32.3
Length of styloid process	Medium	65.2		60.7
Phaenozygy	Marked	53.3		67.6
Keeling of the vault	Slight	56.0		47.7
Prominence of parietal eminence	Slight	48.1		69.7
Parietal foramen	Bilateral	37.5		27.7
Obelionic depression	Absent	63.5		76.9
Anomalies of parietal bone	Absent	100.0		100.0
Development of occipital "bun"	Small	35.3		26.2
Occipital asymmetry	Left prominence	35.3		31.7
Inca bone	Absent	98.0		100.0
Emissary foramen in inion region	Absent	96.0		93.8
Sulcus supratoralis	Absent	74.4		78.8
Suprainiac fossa	Small	11.5		4.5
Size of transverse occipital torus	Small	52.9		33.3
Shape of transverse occipital torus	Mound	86.0		25.8
Lateral extension of occipital torus	No reach to occipitomastoid 72.1	80.4
Size of external occipital protuberance	Absent	96.2		93.9
Development of fossa semispinalis capitis	Small	76.5		21.9
Development of fossa rectus capitis posterior minor	Small	62.0		27.9
Size of external occipital crest	Small	69.4		36.1
Depth of posterior condylar fossa	Slight	26.0		34.5
Posterior condyloid foramen	Single	51.2		37.0
Paroccipital process	Absent	89.8		91.7
Relative size of jugular foramina	Equal	23.3		5.4
Precondylar tubercles	Absent	97.7		96.0
Precondylar grooves	Absent	70.9		65.7
Pharyngeal fossa	Absent	85.7		91.4
Size of pharyngeal tubercle	Small	81.8		63.8
Size of lateral pterygoid lamina	Small	14.7		7.7
Attached margin of lateral pterygoid lamina	Fades away	33.7		41.6
Depth of pterygoid fossa	Shallow	17.5		6.0
Development of foramen ovale	Complete	85.3		95.5
Size of foramen ovale	Medium	53.6		48.2
Relative sizes of foramina ovalia	Equal	39.0		29.1
Angular spine of sphenoid	Slight	30.0		24.2
Type of lower margin of angular spine of sphenoid	Single blunt	64.1		66.7
Development of foramen spinosum	Complete	36.0		57.3
Position of foramen spinosum	Medial	67.4		60.5
Foramen of Vesalius (sphenoidal accessory foramen)	Bilateral	29.6		31.6
Size of posterior nasal spine	Slight	37.2		18.2
Direction of transverse palatine suture	Anterior	56.8		64.1
Size of palatine torus	Small	39.1		54.2
Shape of palatine torus	Ridge	38.9		45.3
Size of incisive foramen	Small	11.5		8.2
Maxillary torus	Absent	95.8		85.2
Form of palate	Elliptical	66.7		64.5
Size of palate	Small	50.0		1.6
Maxilloalveolar index	Mesuranic	37.8		42.5
Depth of palate	Medium	43.2		26.9
Mandibles
Sulcus extramolaris	Slight	35.5	41.6
Lateral prominence	Medium	39.7	37.2
Torus lateralis superior	Slight	31.7	45.8
Torus marginalis	Slight	46.0	40.5
Anterior marginal tubercle	Absent or indistinct	19.1	18.7
Posterior marginal tubercle	Slight	27.4	28.6
Sulcus intertoralis	Absent or indistinct	36.0	34.8
Position of mental foramen	Under PM2	43.4	32.8
Size of mental foramen	Medium	62.3	60.6
Trigonum mentale	Slight	43.3	58.6
Incurvation mandibulae anterior	Slight	45.0	39.7
Incisura submentalis	Absent	60.0	58.4
Fossa mentalis	Absent or indistinct	43.3	32.6
Form of chin	Negative (absent)	43.6	33.7
Height of symphysis	Low (under 30mm)	50.0	14.1
Planum alveolare	Medium	48.3	44.3
Torus transversus superior	Slight	50.0	46.2
Genial pit	Small	78.2	87.2
Size of genial spines	Small	71.2	59.6
Digastric fossa	Slight	43.4	34.1
Trigonum basale	Slight	50.0	31.5
Sulcus predigastricus	Absent	86.9	81.8
Fossa masseterica	More or less flat	40.6	33.7
Eminentia lateralis rami	Absent or indistinct	14.1	21.1
Tuberculum subcondyloideum	Absent	79.5	69.8
Crista ectocondyloidea	Slight	56.7	55.8