Arothron

Arothron performs geometric morphometric analyses and digital restoration of skeletal 3D models to support virtual anthropology and comparative studies of Homo cranial and skeletal morphology.

Key Features:

• Implementation (R package): Provided as an R package for geometric morphometric processing and analysis.
• Digital restoration and virtual cavity extraction: Tools to extract virtual cavities such as cranial endocasts from 3D skeletal models for study of internal morphology.
• Segmentation of skeletal cavities: Specialized segmentation routines demonstrated on a malleus bone, a Neanderthal tooth, and a modern human cranium, enabling shape reproduction and volume calculation.
• Statistical alignment: Methods to statistically align disarticulated or fragmented bony elements for reconstruction of original skeletal configurations.
• Visualization of meshes and landmarks: Capabilities to compare surface meshes and landmark configurations to highlight local morphological variation, including comparisons between Neanderthal and modern human brain hemispheres.
• Integration of shape information: Functions to combine piecemeal shape data from individual specimens into comprehensive datasets for holistic analyses.

Scientific Applications:

• Paleoanthropology and human evolution: Comparative analyses of Homo morphology to investigate evolutionary patterns and variation.
• Reconstruction of damaged fossils: Virtual restoration of incomplete or taphonomically altered specimens to infer original shapes.
• Endocast and internal morphology analysis: Reconstruction and volumetric assessment of cranial cavities and other internal structures.
• Comparative neuroanatomy: Quantitative comparison of brain-related morphology between Neanderthals and modern humans using endocasts and landmarks.
• Alignment of disarticulated remains: Reconstruction of original anatomical configurations from fragmented or disarticulated skeletal elements.

Methodology:

Importing and preparing digital 3D models (digital model processing); algorithmic virtual extraction and segmentation of cavities (virtual extraction and segmentation); statistical techniques for alignment of fragmented or disarticulated bony elements (statistical alignment); and visualization and comparison of surface meshes and landmark configurations (visualization and comparison).