OH-65: The earliest evidence for right-handedness in the fossil record

David W Frayer; Ronald J Clarke; Ivana Fiore; Robert J Blumenschine; Alejandro Pérez-Pérez; Laura M Martinez; Ferran Estebaranz; Ralph Holloway; Luca Bondioli

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.07.002

OH-65: The earliest evidence for right-handedness in the fossil record

J Hum Evol. 2016 Nov:100:65-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.07.002.

Authors

David W Frayer¹, Ronald J Clarke², Ivana Fiore³, Robert J Blumenschine⁴, Alejandro Pérez-Pérez⁵, Laura M Martinez⁵, Ferran Estebaranz⁵, Ralph Holloway⁶, Luca Bondioli³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA. Electronic address: frayer@ku.edu.
² Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2040, Johannesburg, South Africa.
³ Polo Museale del Lazio, Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico "L. Pigorini", Sezione di Bioarcheologia, P. le G. Marconi, 14, 00144, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Paleontological Scientific Trust, P.O. Box 203, Parklands, 2121, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁵ Sect. Anthropology, Department on Animal Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
⁶ Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.

PMID: 27765150
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.07.002

Abstract

Labial striations on the anterior teeth have been documented in numerous European pre-Neandertal and Neandertal fossils and serve as evidence for handedness. OH-65, dated at 1.8 mya, shows a concentration of oblique striations on, especially, the left I¹ and right I¹, I² and C¹, which signal that it was right-handed. From these patterns we contend that OH-65 was habitually using the right hand, over the left, in manipulating objects during some kind of oral processing. In living humans right-handedness is generally correlated with brain lateralization, although the strength of the association is questioned by some. We propose that as more specimens are found, right-handedness, as seen in living Homo, will most probably be typical of these early hominins.

Keywords: Brain lateralization; Labial tooth striations; Tool use.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain / physiology*
Fossils / anatomy & histology*
Functional Laterality
Language
Neanderthals / anatomy & histology
Neanderthals / classification
Neanderthals / physiology*
Tool Use Behavior
Tooth / anatomy & histology*
Tooth / ultrastructure