Eco‐Geographical Variation in Craniofacial Size and Shape, With Emphasis in Cold Adaptation, Through a 3D Approach
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2025
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Wiley
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D’Angelo del Campo, M. D., Gökdoğan Aktepe, G., Bastir, M., & García Martínez, D. (2025). Eco-Geographical Variation in Craniofacial Size and Shape, With Emphasis in Cold Adaptation, Through a 3D Approach. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 187, e70072. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70072
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Introduction
This study examines cranial morphological variations across populations adapted to different climates, with a focus on cold adaptation. Using a 3D geometric morphometric approach, the study analyzes skull variability between populations from various latitudes and climates. Two null hypotheses are tested: (1) differences in skull size and shape are unrelated to climate, and (2) no differences exist between populations with recent versus ancient cold adaptation.
Material and Methods
Skulls from five populations across different climates were analyzed using 3D geometric morphometrics. Landmarks were digitized, and statistical analyses were performed to evaluate size and shape variations among the populations.
Results
One‐way ANOVA Bonferroni post hoc analysis revealed significant size differences. Norsemen differed significantly from all other samples, except Sub‐Saharan Africans. Cold‐adapted populations exhibited larger skull sizes, whereas populations from mild and hot climates had smaller skulls. However, Norsemen exhibited unexpectedly smaller sizes. Notable anatomical disparities are observed along both PCs. PC1+ showed increased prognathism and wider faces in Southern Patagonia and Greenland Thule. PC2+ highlighted larger faces and sloping foreheads in Southern Patagonia and European populations. Median shape analysis reveals pronounced prognathism and wider skulls in Southern Patagonia, with Greenland Thule showing similar traits but with a more globular braincase.
Conclusion
Notable craniofacial similarities associated with extreme cold adaptation, including increased prognathism, prominent glabellar and supraciliary regions, lateral zygomatic expansion, enlarged nasal cavity and orbits, and elongated, flattened braincase, despite genetic differences. However, the Norse sample presents a deviation from expected patterns, exhibiting smaller sizes despite inhabiting a cold region.
Description
Funding: This work was supported by RandD Unit Center for Functional Ecology—Science for People and the Planet (CFE). Grant—Award number: UIDB/04004/2020, financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC). CONICET—Proyectos de Investigación Plurianuales (PIP), 2021–2023. Grant—Award number: PIP-11220200102594CO, Cazadores recolectores de la costa patagónica meridional. Arqueología ambiental, ecología humana y vinculaciones regionales. FONCyT–PICT, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Argentina) 2011–2014. Grant—Award number: PICT 0575. Escenarios paleopatológicos y epidemiológicos pre y post contacto interétnico en la Patagonia Austral y Tierra del Fuego la Isla Grande, Tierra del Fuego. CONICET postdoctoral grant to MDDdC. MB and DGM are funded by PID2020-115854GB-I00/MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Acknowledgments: We sincerely thank the museums and research institutions that granted permission for the study of the human skeletons, including the Forensic Anthropology Laboratory of the University of Coimbra, Dryas Arqueologia Lda, Panum Institute, the Naturhistorisches Museum, and the Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva Humana. We are also grateful to the Instituto Radiológico of Mar del Plata for facilitating and permitting CT scans for our scientific endeavors. We extend our thanks to Prof. Maria Teschler of the Natural History Museum Vienna for granting access to and use of CT data of Tierra del Fuego, which were scanned with Synthesys Funding.