In the first part of the project, two studies focused on facial asymmetry, which was more pronounced in humans that grew up in disadvantaged populations, as well as in gorillas that are very inbred. These results highlight the complex nature of facial asymmetry and the fact that “stress” can take many forms, ranging from external, environmental factors to genetics. The manuscript on gorillas is currently in submission, while the manuscript on humans (led by a supervisee of the beneficiary) is in preparation. In the second part of the project, the beneficiary and her colleagues found that flanged male orangutans, or those with large pouches on their cheeks, have more severe dental defects than males stuck in arrested development. Previous studies showed that flanged males have higher stress hormones than unflanged males, and these results suggest that enamel defect severity might be a reliable indicator of physiological stress experienced in early life. This manuscript was been accepted in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The second of the 3D dental studies showed that wild-captured apes exhibit very severe defects in their teeth, while the last study showed that Neanderthals have similarly severe defects compared to different human groups, including those that lived just after the Neanderthals went extinct. The latter manuscript is currently in press in Scientific Reports, while the former manuscript is in preparation. In the third part of the project, all of the species examined (pigs, humans, nonhuman apes) were found to exhibit microscopic signs of stress inside the growth layers of their teeth, and ongoing work will shed light on the significance of these stress markers for our interpretation of the fossil and archaeological record. One manuscript on pig teeth was published in Chemical Geology, while two others on human teeth are in preparation. In total, three peer-reviewed papers have been published, six others are in preparation, and seven conference presentations were given as a result of this project. Two Master’s students were co-supervised by the beneficiary and a total of 10 mentees gained training in research techniques as a result of this project.
