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Abstract
The ectocranial morphology of early Holocene humans from Lagoa Santa, Brazil has been described as exhibiting a ‘Paleoamerican’ form with affinities to African and Australasian individuals, in contrast to past and present Native Americans, who predominantly exhibit ‘Amerindian’ form. While this interpretation remains disputed, its led to the ‘Two Main Biological Components Model’, which proposes separate dispersals from Asia into the Americas. This study aims to assess whether the endocranial morphology of Lagoa Santa individuals similarly reflects these affinities. For this study, the overall endocranial morphology, as well as the temporal bones of the crania of twenty individuals from Lagoa Santa, were analyzed and compared with five population samples from the Americas, Australia, Africa, and Asia using computed tomography scans and geometric morphometric methods. Our analyses revealed that, while the overall endocranial morphology of the Lagoa Santa individuals exhibits shape affinities with Australians and Africans, the surface morphology of the temporal bones displays a wider range of variation across individuals.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1590/2178-2547-BGOELDI-2024-0059
Repository Citation
López-Sosa, María Clara; Reyes-Centeno, Hugo; Menéndez, Lumila Paula; Oliveira, Rodrigo Elias; de Castro, Claudio Campi; and Strauss, André, "Endocranial morphological affinities of the Early Holocene individuals from Lagoa Santa and implications for the peopling of the Americas" (2026). Anthropology Faculty Publications. 33.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/anthro_facpub/33
