The human chin revisited: what is it and who has it?

@article{Schwartz2000TheHC,
  title={The human chin revisited: what is it and who has it?},
  author={Jeffrey H Schwartz and Ian Tattersall},
  journal={Journal of human evolution},
  year={2000},
  volume={38 3},
  pages={
          367-409
        }
}
Although the presence of a "chin" has long been recognized as unique to Homo sapiens among mammals, both the ontogeny and the morphological details of this structure have been largely overlooked. Here we point out the essential features of symphyseal morphology in H. sapiens, which are present and well-defined in the fetus at least as early as the fifth gestational month. Differences among adults in expression of these structures, particularly in the prominence of the mental tuberosity, are… 
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140 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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Background Citations
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Methods Citations
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140 Citations

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A developmental sequence leading to a chin prominence during early fetal development is discovered that is very similar to that which was observed in postnatal modern humans and in chimpanzee fetuses and the evidence that the inverted-T relief is developmentally integrated with the chin prominence is provided.
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A century's worth of chin hypotheses are reviewed and future research avenues that may provide greater insight into this human peculiarity are discussed.
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The results reveal that the symphysis is anteriorly inclined in the youngest chimpanzee fetuses but develops an increasingly vertical orientation up until birth, which could be a key event for emergence of the deciduous canine.
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A mosaic of features including facial, mandibular and dental morphology that aligns the Jebel Irhoud material with early or recent anatomically modern humans and more primitive neurocranial and endocranial morphology shows that the evolutionary processes behind the emergence of H. sapiens involved the whole African continent.
Middle cranial fossa anatomy and the origin of modern humans.
TLDR
Three-dimensional morphometrics and computer reconstructions of computed tomography-scanned fossil hominids, fossil and recent modern humans and chimpanzees point to variations in the temporal lobe, which, through effects on the MCF and face, are central to the evolution of modern human facial form.
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TLDR
It is demonstrated that in both humans and chimpanzees, the forward displacement of the mental region derives from the arrangement of the tongue and hyoid bone, in order to cope with the relative horizontal narrowing of the oral cavity.
Neurocranial evolution in modern humans: the case of Jebel Irhoud 1
TLDR
A basic morphometric description and comparison of the endocast of Jebel Irhoud 1 shows that the upper parietal areas show a certain parasagittal lateral bulging, as in European Neandertals, and it seems likely that the origin of the modern human lineage may have predated theorigin of many aspects of themodern human brain.
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