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Biomedical subjects

M H Wolpoff

Publications and source records attributed to M H Wolpoff.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

The Krapina dental remains.

An analysis of age, specimen associations, demographic characteristics, and metric features is presented for the Krapina dental sample. A critical analysis of emergence criteria applicable to skeletal samples leads to an occlusal eruption schedule which can be used to determine wear rates. These are used to provide dental ages for the Krapina jaws and isolated teeth. A number of individual associations of isolated teeth with existing jaws and with each other result in an estimated individual count between 75 and 82. Demographic analysis indicates that the specimens do not accurately sample a living population; numerous adults as well as children under the age of three are not represented. Metric analysis indicates a moderate range of variation. The interproximal wear rates are low, and no evidence of tooth size associated differential survivorship can be demonstrated. The sample fits in a European evolutionary sequence of reducing posterior and expanding anterior permanent teeth, while the deciduous teeth seem to undergo expansion through the Würm glaciation.

Age Determination by Teeth↗
PubMed1977

Some notes on the Vértesszöllös occipital.

An examination of the Vértesszöllös occipital bone indicates the need for takings its condition and preservation as well as certain aspects of its morphology into account prior to a metric assessment of its features. This analysis confirms the presence of extrasutural bones on the lambdoidal suture as well as some distortion in the sagittal curvature of this region. The advisability of using the endocranial sutures as well as other data for defining lambda in cases such as this is discussed, and a procedure for determining the position of opisthion is indicated. A metric and morphological analysis is used to support the claim that the specimen can be considered a large late representative of Homo erectus in Europe.

Cephalometry↗
PubMed1975

Dental reduction and the probable mutation effect.

A recent test of the probable mutation effect can be interpreted to suggest the operations of mutations under conditions of reduced selection in the late Pleistocene reduction of the human dentition.

Animals↗
PubMed1971

Interstitial wear.

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Adaptation, Biological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Lucy's lower limbs: long enough for Lucy to be fully bipedal?

The recent attempt to show that the Hadar australopithecine female 'Lucy' (AL 288-1) had hindlimbs too short to allow a modern pattern of striding bipedal gait has important implications for understanding the origin of bipedalism, if not for the more general problem of hominid origins. Combined with previous claims that Lucy had a forelimb unusually long in proportion and ape-like in morphology, the additional contention of a relatively short hindlimb would suggest a very different pattern of gait from the norm of today because the effectiveness of the pendulum action of the lower limb during stride is a function of the amount of mass in the limb, and because a short hindlimb would necessitate a short stride length. Yet, these contentions seem contradicted by the analyses of Lucy's pelvis (and the innominates of other australopithecines) that indicate a similar pattern of muscle use and imply a lack of significant gait differences. Are Lucy's legs too short to allow an effective stride, or is there a different solution to this contradiction? I propose here that there is.

Animals↗