Evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homo.

Overview

1. University of Tennessee - Knoxville, Department of Anthropology,Knoxville, USA
2. DFG Center for Advanced Studies ‘Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: Tracking linguistic, cultural and biological trajectories of the human past’, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen,Tübingen, Germany
3. Paleoanthropology, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen,Tübingen, Germany
4. Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen,Tübingen, Germany
5. HUMAN ORIGINS—Cluster of Excellence for Integrative Human Origins Studies (EXC 3101), Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen,Tübingen, Germany

Abstract

The evolution of cranial morphology in the genus Homo is marked by increasing encephalization and reduced facial robusticity through time. These changes are often assumed to be the product of directional natural selection for larger brain size, presumed to be associated with greater cognitive abilities, and for decreasing facial size to lower energetic costs, as masticatory demands were reduced through food processing and tool use. Here, we test this hypothesis by exploring the goodness-of-fit of the predictions of six evolutionary processes to the observed cranial morphological variation in Homo. We analyzed comprehensive neurocranial and facial 3D landmark coordinate datasets, grouped into eight Operational Taxonomic Units starting with early Homo and representing two lineages, Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. Our neurocranial analysis found strongest support for models of neutral evolution (Unbiased Random Walk) and stasis across both lineages. Similarly, the face shows strongest support for models of stasis, strict stasis, and neutral evolution (Unbiased Random Walk). Our findings suggest a limited role for gradual directional selection and underscore the importance of stabilizing selection and constraints in our lineage’s evolution, highlighting the importance of environmental constraints and possibly cultural behaviors as core drivers of human evolution.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Code availability

HTML and Quarto documents with all code, links to external resources, and results are provided in Supplementary Code 1.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

• zenodo:20049309, at Zenodo; found in DataCite
• zenodo:20049310, at Zenodo; found in DataCite

Data availability

The neurocranial and facial datasets used in this study have been deposited in Zenodo and are available at 10.5281/zenodo.2004931046.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 2 authors, 2 keywords, 11 MeSH terms, 4 funders, 39 references.

Cite

This paper

Hubbe, M., & Harvati, K. (2026). Evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homo. Nature communications, 17(1), 5625. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74739-w

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1007/s00429-026-03129-1 [code]

Brain structure and function in Homo naledi.

Journal: Brain structure & function

In common: 6 references

[2] doi:10.1038/s44271-026-00468-x [code]

Inter-brain processes during Live and Represented social moments are inter-related and shaped by behavioral synchrony.

Journal: Communications psychology

In common: 1 reference

[3] doi:10.1126/sciadv.aea1927 [code]

An evolutionary conserved neural mechanism for interpersonal coordination in primates.

Journal: Science advances

In common: 1 reference

[4] doi:10.1111/ede.70034

Exploring Larval Axolotl Brain Development: Insights Into Developmental and Functional Constraints.

Journal: Evolution & development

In common: 1 reference

[5] doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.116324 [code]

Ecological not social factors explain brain size in cephalopods.

Journal: iScience

In common: 1 reference

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.