Principal Component Weights For Hominin Carpal Bone Morphology

Principal component weights derived from a shape analysis of hominin carpal bones. The dataset includes separate files for overall weights and subsets for Australopithecus afarensis, africanus, sediba, and Homo floresiensis. Laura Hunter published the data on figshare in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relative importance of each principal component for specific bones like the capitate or hamate.
• Compare the explained variance per PC across different hominin species using the 'relative weight' row.
• Reconstruct original bone shapes from the 'spharm_BONENAME_oct2025.csv' data by applying the provided PC weights.
• Investigate morphological differences between species by examining PC weight subsets for Australopithecus afarensis and Homo floresiensis.

Strengths

• Data is structured for direct use with companion shape data files.
• Separate files allow for focused analysis on four specific hominin species.

Limitations

• Very small dataset at 14.6 KB, indicating limited scope.
• Row and column counts are unknown, making scale assessment difficult.
• Data is derived and secondary, dependent on the original shape analysis for context.

Provenance

Source

Laura Hunter via figshare.

Collection Method

Derived from principal component analysis of 3D carpal bone shape data.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

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