Studies on the skull, as on the rest of the skeleton, are nowadays analyzed from several angles, given the improvement of analytical tools, particularly through medical imaging. However, we must not neglect the fundamentals of anatomy and its twin sister, comparative anatomy, which in addition to the normal development of individuals, a great intraspecific variability is recorded in human species as in other Vertebrates, not to mention sexual dimorphism.
The paleontological analysis of the skull of Hominidae and quadruped Mammals involves a series of taxonomic, morphometric, geometric, cladistic, biomechanic and radiographic studies, grouped or isolated in order to recognize the different morphotypes, evolutionary mechanisms, ancestral origin of taxa, developmental stages or intra- and interspecific variability of each family, genus or species. The subspecies is itself considered as a geographic variety. All these studies are not necessarily carried out in the same research institution and may sometimes be unrelated to each other due to different objectives. Thus, research conducted in the medical world, particularly in dentofacial orthopedics, orthodontics, rheumatology or neurology, brings its share of knowledge to evolutionary sciences and the anatomy of fossil species, which sometimes prove to be very complementary. Throughout this work, a superficial or in-depth overview of these different research parameters will be provided, each time with examples supported by detailed illustrations.
Due to the radiation of certain Mammals, such as the Bovidae Family, the intra- and interspecific variation is great and manifests itself as much by polymorphism as by sexual dimorphism. Paradoxically, in some species of closely related Ungulates, such as small, large or medium-sized antelopes, difficulties appear during the taxonomic separation of the bony remains. This is particularly the case for certain dentures, cranial portions or limb bones belonging to gazelle species, but it is also the case for wildebeest (Connochaetes) females with male hartebeest (Alcelaphus). However, the most cited example in the zoological and paleontological literature is clearly that of the three or four genera (if we add Bubalus), Bos, Bison and Syncerus represented by the species of aurochs (Bos primigenius), bison (Bison priscus) and buffalo (Syncerus). Many authors have multiplied the methods of generic and specific distinction of these species with their imposing size, only the cranial remains, in this case the horn cores (orientation, curvature, flattening, etc.) and the metapodial segments provide fairly significant elements of diagnosis.
In caballine Equidae fossils, here again only the presence of canines in males sometimes allows a sexual diagnosis and this is not often the case because of a poor conservation of the symphysis elements in archeological excavations.
In Carnivores or in certain Great Apes, it is rightly the canine (or fang), clearly larger in males, which makes sexual determination possible, while the cranial vault of the majority of Primates is provided with a sagittal crest in males. Fossil Hominidae, on the other hand, represents a clear dimorphism whose cranial, pelvic and appendicular characters offer better elements of distinction. Another scenario is emerging for the current representatives of the human species where studies suggest that bony sexual dimorphism decreases greatly between men and women.
Cranial and in particular dental terminology has followed the methods of several authors: Gentry and Gentry (1978a) for Antelope jugal teeth, Heintz (1970) for Cervidae and Bovidae, Eisenmann (1980, 1981) for Equidae and Kurten for Carnivores (1963).
The different chapters discussed on the skull are based on current and fossil species of Hominidae and certain groups of four-legged Mammals. A large number of species studied by the author are based in particular on the cranial and dental forms of herbivorous and carnivorous species endemic to Eurasia, the Mediterranean Basin and Africa.
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Proboscideans: The Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)
Super-Order Proboscidea.
Order Elephantoidea.
Family Elephantidae.
Genus Mammuthus Brooks, 1828.
Species Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach, 1799 (woolly mammoth).
1.1. Chronological, geographical and morphological indications of the species
In the species of the Elephantidae Family, the orbits are very advanced on the antero-posterior axis of the skull and open in front of the jugal teeth; these are anatomical characteristics of animals without snouts. In general, in Mammals, the orbits open above the last molars (Lecointre and Le Guyader 2001).
The nose and upper lip are replaced by a flexible tube used for breathing, drinking, picking things up, etc. The lower canines are lost and the upper incisors are transformed into tusks that are continuously developing (Figure 1.1).
The species belongs to one of the three related genera regrouping mammoths and elephants (Mammuthus, Elephas and Loxodonta) included in the Family Elephantidae and classified in the Super-Order Proboscidea. These trunk bearers have provided no less than 170 fossil species, the oldest dating back 55 million years (Eocene). The first Elephantidae appeared in Africa 7 million years ago, the first mammoths 3–4 million years ago. Great confusion reigned for a long time among specialists for the classification of the mammoth and its origin. Today everyone is unanimous in classifying the first mammoths in Africa.
The arrival of mammoths in Europe and Asia took place around 2.6 million years ago. Three main Euro-Asian species followed one another. The southern mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis), known in Saint-Vallier, Senèze and Chilhac, had a size exceeding 3 meters at the withers, large slightly curved tusks and jugal teeth whose hypsodontic character was still weak. The steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii), descendant of the previous one, was known in Sussenborn and Mosbach (Germany), in Abbeville and Saint-Acheul (France) and in Great Britain. With a height of more than 4 meters at the withers, this mammoth was considered the largest species in Europe. The woolly or Siberian mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is the best known. It appeared about 190,000 years ago and remains the most documented of all fossils due to the many discoveries of whole animals preserved in the permafrost (Guérin 1996a).
Figure 1.1. Skull of a young present-day Asian elephant in left lateral view. Note the position of the orbits above the maxilla and not behind it (© Éditions Belin/Dominique Visset)
1.2. Mammoth discoveries in Île-de-France
The Fifth International Conference on Mammoths and their Families, held in 2010 in Le Puy-en-Velay, brought together the discoveries of this trunk fossil in more than 20 countries of Eurasia, Africa and America. Even though the Île-de-France region was not represented at this meeting, there have been a large number of remains of woolly mammoths in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne,
