Body mass is a critical variable in many hominin evolutionary studies, with implications for reconstructing relative brain size, diet, locomotion, subsistence strategy, and social organization. We review methods that have been proposed for estimating body mass from true and trace fossils, consider their applicability in different contexts, and the appropriateness of different modern reference samples. Recently developed techniques based on a wider range of modern populations hold promise for providing more accurate estimates in earlier hominins, although uncertainties remain, particularly in non-Homo taxa. When these methods are applied to almost 300 Late Miocene through Late Pleistocene specimens, the resulting body mass estimates fall within a 25–60 kg range for early non-Homo taxa, increase in early Homo to about 50–90 kg, then remain constant until the Terminal Pleistocene, when they decline.

中文翻译：

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古人类体重的估计和演化

体重是许多古人类进化研究中的一个关键变量，对于重建相对大​​脑大小、饮食、运动、生存策略和社会组织具有重要意义。我们回顾了已经提出的根据真实化石和痕迹化石估计体重的方法，考虑它们在不同背景下的适用性，以及不同现代参考样本的适当性。最近开发的基于更广泛的现代人群的技术有望为早期人类提供更准确的估计，尽管不确定性仍然存在，特别是在非人类群中。当这些方法应用于近 300 个中新世晚期到更新世晚期的标本时，对于早期非人属类群，得出的体重估计值落在 25-60 公斤范围内，早期人属增加到约 50-90 公斤，然后保持恒定，直到更新世末期，当它们衰退时。