Yet, as Hulse (1962) has pointed out, neoteny is not the only dimension of heterochrony (changes in developmental timing, Fig. 1) that plays a role in human diversification. He brings up the example of Western Eurasians and Australian Aboriginals, who have retained similar skeletal and craniofacial characteristics to those which most people possessed in earlier times (gerontomorphic characteristics, as opposed to the pedomorphic traits that the Kalahari Bushmen display).
(...)
Ashley-Montagu (1989) theorized that part of the differences seen in the morphology of modern types of man can also be attributed to different rates of ‘neotenous mutations’ in their early populations. Thus, the East Asian skull is the most neotenized human cranium. The European skull is less neotenized than the East Asian and African, with the Australian Aboriginal cranium still less than the European, and with the Neanderthal skull even less neotenized than that of the Australian Aboriginal. Observing the Bushmen (San) of southern Africa, he has identified several well-defined neotenous traits relative to other humans (Table 2). In addition, McKinney and McNamara (1991) have remarked that African Pygmy and Asian Negrito populations also display highly neotenous features.
This is why culture and social perception >>> ALL
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