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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Postpleistocene evolution of the brain?

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description

The number of extraneurons (Nc) has been calculated with the formulae of Jerison ('63) for prehistoric population samples to check the hypothesis that Nc may not only increase by increasing of cranial capacity but also by decreasing of body-weight (gracilisation). Body weight of skeletal populations has been estimated by the formula of Debetz ('67). Samples from the Western part of Europe and Egypt support the hypothesis, but Eastern europoid samples display opposite relations: Nc increases with robusticity. It seems (as Jerison already suggested) that Nc is no measurement of the level of behavior in the populations of H. sapiens; but it may point towards allometric differences between West and East, which are also known for other characters.