The interspecific allometry of five measures of total cranial bone thickness is examined in 10 extant catarrhine genera and two fossil hominid samples representing A. africanus and Asian H. erectus. Analysis of the modern sample shows that most interspecific variation in vault thickness can be accounted for by variation in body size. Correlation values are moderate to high (r = 0.75-0.98), and all variables exhibit positive allometry. The bone thickness: body mass relationship of modern humans broadly conforms with that of other primates. However, in the distribution of relative thickness throughout the skull, H. sapiens is distinguished by relative thickening of the parietal and extreme relative thinning of the temporal squama. The bone thickness: body mass relationship in the two early hominid species is examined using published mean body weight estimates generated from post-cranial predictor variables. A. africanus exhibits great similarity to modern humans in its relation to the catarrhine regression data and in the distribution of relative thickness throughout the skull. H. erectus also shows a modern human-like pattern in the distribution of its relative thickness; however, its bone thickness: body mass relationship is dissimilar to that displayed by all other taxa, including the other hominid species. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that the published body weight estimate assigned to H. erectus greatly underestimates actual mean body size for Asian members of this species.

The East African Early Miocene apes, or proconsulids, have often been considered to be among the earliest members of the Hominoidea, as defined by the divergence of the Cercopithecoidea, but this hypothesis is only weakly supported by available fossil evidence. The ethmofrontal sinus is one of a few morphological features that may link proconsulids with later hominoids. Here we present direct evidence of an ethmofrontal sinus in an early Oligocene stem catarrhine, Aegyptopithecus zeuxis. The presence of this sinus in Aegyptopithecus suggests that its presence in proconsulids is most likely to be a retained primitive condition. The morphological evidence bearing on proconsulids' purported hominoid affinities is further weakened by this conclusion, and alternative phylogenetic possibilities, such as the placement of proconsulids as stem catarrhines are considered more likely.

Domuztepe est situé au sud de la partie centrale de la Turquie entre les villes de Kahramanmaraş et Gaziantep. D 'une superficie d 'environ 20 hectares, Domuztepe est l 'un des plus grands établissements du 6e millénaire connu à ce jour. Les recherches ont porté sur les niveaux Halaf récent (Néolithique récent) qui se trouvent approximativement à 2 m de la surface et que les dates C14 permettent de dater entre ca. 5 700 et 5 450 ВС (cal.). Les résultats présentés ici concernent le large terrassement artificiel observé, la, fouille d 'un complexe élaboré de sépultures collectives ; et, pour les couches les plus récentes, le dégagement de structures architecturales les unes rondes, les autres rectililignes. Nous présentons en détail ce qui peut être mis en relation avec les rites qui auraient accompagné l'enterrement de 35-40 individus. Les ensembles céramique, glyptique et de pierre sont brièvement décrits et un aperçu de la paléo-économie est donné. En conclusion une discussion est proposée sur ce qui peut, sur ce site, suggérer l'émergence d'une certaine complexité de l'organisation sociale.

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