Testing Hypotheses About Recent Human Evolution From Skulls: Integrating Morphology, Function, Development, and Phylogeny

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Abstract
The majority of the 33 cranial, dental, and mandibular characters most often used to support and test models of recent human evolution fail to satisfy three essential criteria, they must be homologous, derived, and observable for all taxa. Although few of these characters provide useful information on the evolutionary relationships among recent human taxa, more support the recent-African-origin hypothesis than the multiregional-origin hypothesis. To test hypotheses about human origins, researchers need to focus on the integration of the functional morphology and the developmental biology of the skull to assess the probability that craniodental characters yield phylogenetic information.