Shaping the human face: Periosteal bone modeling across ontogeny.

ABSTRACT: Facial morphology is a defining aspect of Homo sapiens that distinguishes our species from fossil ancestors and plays a central role in estimating age, sex, and ancestry in both past and present populations. Understanding how the face develops during postnatal ontogeny is essential for interpreting adult facial variation. Periosteal bone modeling (i.e., patterns of resorption and formation) provides direct evidence of bone growth activity underlying morphological variation. This study quantifies periosteal bone modeling in a cross-sectional ontogenetic sample of individuals ranging from birth to adulthood from three geographical populations: Western Europe, Greenland, and South Africa. Epoxy replicas were analyzed using digital microscopy to quantify bone resorption, and digital maps of th

SUBMITTER: Freidline SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12803535 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature