Revision of human evolution: How extended childhood paved the way to brain enlargement

ESRF SEMINAR
Monday 16 December, 10:30, ESRF auditorium

Dr. Vincent Beyrand, ESRF Research Engineer
"Revision of human evolution: How extended childhood paved the way to brain enlargement"

Brain enlargement has long been viewed as a key milestone in human evolution, facilitating prolonged childhood and the development of social and cultural abilities. However, dental analysis of an early Homo specimen from Dmanisi, Georgia (1.77 million years ago) reveals that biological development in this early human was slowed compared to great apes, aligning with a prolonged childhood but not matching the larger brain size seen in modern humans. Notably, the presence of an elderly toothless individual at Dmanisi suggests social support was already in place, challenging the notion that a large brain was a prerequisite for social interactions. This evidence supports the hypothesis that extended childhood, rather than increased brain size, may have been the precursor to more complex social relationships and cognitive development. This reverses the traditional 'big brain-long childhood' model, proposing instead a 'long childhood-social interaction-big brain' framework.

TO CONNECT VIA ZOOM, please click on this link