Mapping the brain of fossil hominins: the EndoMap project

International audienceThe EndoMap project aims to provide new insights into the timing and mode of the structural changes that shaped the human brain evolutionary history. Because brains do not fossilize, paleoneurologists have to rely on visual inspection and palpation of brain imprints preserved on the inner surface of the braincase (i.e., endocasts). As a consequence, long-standing questions on when and how human-like derived cerebral features emerged in our lineage remain debated. The main goal of this project is thus to assess the earliest occurrence of the human-like cerebral specificities by developing a new protocol for the computer-assisted recognition of brain imprints on fossil hominin endocasts. This goal will be achieved through the non-invasive analysis of extant human endocasts as well as the investigation of cranial remains from the African fossil hominin record coupled with the use of high-resolution imaging techniques, digital atlases and probability maps. Here we present preliminary results of the EndoMap project with the description of brain imprints in iconic fossil specimens (e.g., "Little Foot") and the quantification of the variation pattern in extant humans. Built upon collaborations between neuroscientists, computer scientists and palaeoanthropologists, this multidisciplinary project will provide new insights into the human brain evolutionary history