Extended Data Fig. 5: Statistical validation of spine reconstructions.
From: Rib cage anatomy in Homo erectus suggests a recent evolutionary origin of modern human body shape
a, Scatterplot of PC1 and PC2 of the four original (stars) and 24 reconstructed thoracic spines (dots: reconstructions carried out by researcher 1; open squares: reconstructions carried out by researcher 2), and the convex hulls of each spine. PC1 shows that all (except one) reconstructions plotted towards more positive PC1 scores relative to their original. Inset 3D shapes illustrate variation along PC1. The experiment indicates a systematic underestimation of the thoracic kyphosis following the standardized reconstruction methods. b, The dendrogram shows the high accuracy of the reconstructions, which is independent of the researcher. All reconstructions fall together only with their original spine.
