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This article shows how 3D geometric morphometric data can be analyzed usingnewly developed distance-based evolutionary tree inference methods, withextensions to planar graphs. Application of these methods to 3D representationsof the skullcap (calvaria) of 13 diverse skulls in the genus Homo, ranging fromHomo erectus (ergaster) at about 1.6 mya, all the way forward to modern humans,yields a remarkably clear phylogenetic tree. Various evolutionary hypothesesare tested. Results of these tests include rejection of the monophyly of Homoheidelbergensis, the Multi-Regional hypothesis, and the hypothesis that theunusual 12,000 year old (12kya) Iwo Eleru skull represents a modern human.Rather, by quantitative phylogenetic analyses the latter is seen to be an old(200-400kya) lineage that probably represents a novel African species, Homoiwoelerueensis. It diverged after the lineage leading to Neanderthals, and mayhave been driven to extinction in the last 10kya by modern humans, Homosapiens, another African species of Homo that appeared about 100kya. Anotherenigmatic skull, Qafzeh 6 from the Middle East about 90kya, appears to be ahybrid of two thirds near, but not, anatomically modern human and one third ofan archaic lineage diverging close to classic European Neanderthals. Overall,the tree clearly implies an accelerating rate of skullcap shape change, and byextension, change of the underlying brain, over the last 400kya in Africa. Thisacceleration may have extended right up to the origin of modern humans. Methodsof distance-based evolutionary tree inference are refined and extended, withparticular attention to diagnosing the model and achieving a better fit. Thisincludes power transformations of the input data which favor root Procrustesdistances.

Extended Distance-based Phylogenetic Analyses Applied to 3D Homo Fossil Skull Evolution