Inga Bergmann
Doctoral Student
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Evolution
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
Germany
phone: 0049 (0) 341 3550 751
fax: 0049 (0) 341 3550 399
e-mail: inga_bergmann@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Research Interests
I am a PhD student at the IMPRS Leipzig School of Human Origins in the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. My thesis concerns the morphological variability and evolution of the mandible in Homo sapiens and its ancestors. My methodological approach benefits from the technical possibilities of geometrics morphometrics and virtual anthropology.
The mandible is the hardest and most durable bone in our skeleton, predestining it to be a valuable research object in fossil sites. Its morphology indicates a high degree of sexual dimorphism, functionality and species affiliation. Thus, our mandible carries some important signals of human evolution in the form of size and shape features, defining us as Homo sapiens. But what exactly are those traits and when did they evolve? Which ones are unique to us and how many do we share with our ancestors Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis? Although there are general morphological trends in the evolution of the Homo lineage it has never been easy to define anatomical modernity, be it in regard of the mandible, the cranium or other skeletal parts. In my thesis I try to catch mandibular morphology in a temporal and geographical aspect, investigating Middle and Late Pleistocene specimens from all over the world. Three dimensional data, derived from CT-scans, will enable me to quantify mandibular shape variation and to determine how size affects shape. This has proved to be an adequate approach in order to disentangle the complex biological pattern that has rendered the phenotype of our mandible how it is today.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
| 2014-present | PhD student Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Dep. Human Evolution & IMPRS Leipzig School of Human Origins |
| 2011-2013 | M.Sc. Paleoanthropology, University of Tübingen |
| 2008-2011 | B.A. Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Jena |
Fieldwork/ Professional Experience
| 2013 | Excavation Ellwangen (Germany, Medieval), anthropological documentation |
| 2012-2013 | Research assistant in project The Role of Culture in Early Expansion of Humans Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities & University of Tübingen |
| 2013 | Excavation Sefunim (Israel, Middle/ Upper Paleolithic), University of Tübingen |
| 2012 | Excavation Schöningen (Germany, Lower Paleolithic), University of Tübingen |
| 2012 | Excavation Hohle Fels (Germany, Middle/ Upper Paleolithic), Univ. Tübingen |
| 2011 | Research Assistant Museum for Prehistoric Archaeology Neubrandenburg (GER), |
| 2010 | Research Assistant during relocation and inventory of the osteological collection of Kapellendorf (GER) State Office for Culture and Preservation of Historical Monuments in Thuringia & German Society for Biological Anthropology |
| 2009-2010 | Excavation Wetzlar-Dalheim C86 (Iron Age/ Roman Empire) Universities of Jena and Marburg |
| 2009 | Excavation Würzburg (Germany, Medieval) Office for Excavation and Documentation Heyse, Bavaria |
Conference presentations
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2013 |
10th International Meeting of the German Society of Biological Anthropology 2nd-6th September, Bolzano (Italy), podium presentation titled "Sexual dimorphism in human mandibular morphology - temporally biased?", nominated among the top three of 22 junior scientists |
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2016 |
6th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 14th-17th September, Madrid, podium presentation titled "Variability and Evolution of mandible morphology in Homo sapiens and its ancestors" |
Publications
Articles
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Bergmann, I., Reyes-Centeno, H., Wahl, J., & Harvati, K. (in preparation). The temporal gradient of sexual dimorphism in human mandibular morphology from the Neolithic until modern times. |
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Bergmann, I., Hublin, J.-J., Ben-Ncer, A., Sbihi-Alaoui, F. Z., Gunz, P., & Freidline, S. E. (2022). The relevance of late MSA mandibles on the emergence of modern morphology in Northern Africa. Scientific Reports, 12: 8841. |
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Bergmann, I., Hublin, J.-J., Gunz, P., & Freidline, S. E. (2021). How did modern morphology evolve in the human mandible? The relationship between static adult allometry and mandibular variability in Homo sapiens. Journal of Human Evolution, 157: 103026. |
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Chen, F., Welker, F., Shen, C.-C., Bailey, S. E., Bergmann, I., Davis, S., Xia, H., Wang, H., Fischer, R., Freidline, S. E., Yu, T.-L., Skinner, M. M., Stelzer, S., Dong, G., Fu, Q., Dong, G., Wang, J., Zhang, D., & Hublin, J.-J. (2019). A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau. Nature, 569 (7756 ), 409-412. |
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Hublin, J.-J., Ben-Ncer, A., Bailey, S. E., Freidline, S. E., Neubauer, S., Skinner, M. M., Bergmann, I., Le Cabec, A., Benazzi, S., Harvati, K., & Gunz, P. (2017). New fossils from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) and the Pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature, 546(7657), 289-292. |
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Bergmann, I., Bock, C., Ebert, J., Enders, S., Müller, S., Otto, G., Pasda, C., Weiß, J., & Zeiß, D. (2012). Jung- und spätpaläolithische Freilandfundstellen im Tal der Weißen Elster (Mitteldeutschland). Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 42(4), 439-451. |
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Bergmann, I., Dahlmann, A., Pasda, C., & Weiß, J. (2011). Etzdorf "am Nassen Wald": Steinartefakte aus Thüringen und ihre Diskussion im Rahmen des späten Jungpaläolithikums. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 41(3), 319-337. |
Open AccessMeeting Abstracts
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Bergmann, I., Hublin, J.-J., Gunz, P., & Freidline, S. E. (2020). How did mandibular morphology evolve in H. sapiens? A geometric morphometrics approach to the role of allometry during the emergence of our species. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 171(S69), 25-25. |
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Bergmann, I., Freidline, S. E., Gunz, P., & Hublin, J.-J. (2017). Variability and evolution of mandible morphology among Homo sapiens and its ancestors in Europe, Africa and Western Asia. In Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution (PESHE) (5, pp. 49). |
Preprint
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Freidline, S., Westaway, K., Joannes-Boyau, R., Duringer, P., Ponche, J.-L., Morley, M., Hernandez, V. P., McAllister-Hayward, M., McColl, H., Zanolli, C., Gunz, P., Bergmann, I., Sichanthongtip, P., Sihanam, D., Boualaphane, S., Luangkhoth, T., Souksavatdy, V., Dosseto, A., Boesch, Q., Patole-Edoumba, E., Aubaile, F., Crozier, F., Suzzoni, E., Frangeul, S., Bourgon, N., Zachwieja, A., Dunn, T., Bacon, A.-M., Hublin, J.-J., Shackelford, L., & Demeter, F. (2023). Early presence of Homo sapiens by 86-68 kyrs in Southeast Asia at Tam Pà Ling cave, Northern Laos. Research Square. |
Thesis
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Bergmann, I. (2023). Variability and evolution of mandible morphology in Homo sapiens and its ancestors. PhD Thesis, Universität, Leipzig. |