modern variation and evolutionary change in the hominin eye orbit

investigate change in orbital volume among these groups. However, by comparing thecrania of Japanese and Australian Aborigine samples that represent more “modern” and“ancestral” temporal groups from East Asia, respectively, they are able to deduce howorbital volume varies in association with adjacent craniofacial features during the last10,000 years in this region.Brown & Maeda (2004) show that since the Chinese Neolithic cranial robusticityand endocranial volume are reduced, along with a reduction in posterior tooth size, lossof alveolar bone, and a subsequent reduction in facial prognathism. These trendscorroborate the results of the above studies of craniofacial change in size across Africa,Europe, and Asia over a similar time period. In relation to change in orbital morphologythroughout the Chinese Neolithic, a pattern of relative and absolute increase in orbitalheight emerges, which in association with decreasing orbital breadth, results in taller,narrower, and more circular shaped orbital margins (Brown & Maeda, 2004); a strongtrend also observed by Wu et al. (2007). This increase in orbital height and decrease inorbital breadth occurs in association with a reduction in supraorbital breadth, a decreasein facial height, and a reduction in facial prognathism throughout the last 7,000 years inthis region.As part of this dissertation research, orbital morphology is investigated amongWestern European groups from different time periods dating to the Upper Paleolithic inorder to understand diachronic change in this feature and within this region. These sameorbital characteristics are examined in relation to changes in cranial and facial form,which undergo a considerable degree of modification throughout this time period inEurope, and many other regions of the world. The results of this analysis are also21