CC BY
10
Section HUMAN EVOLUTION
93
is unquestionably modern dating to the 18th century AD (Alexeeva, 1996). The authors ignored that the radiocarbon dates for cultural levels upper and lower of the burial gave the interval 35,510±1170 - 36,160±1250 BP, because of absent of direct radiocarbon (AMS) dates from the human remains (Gvozdover et al., 1986)]. Morphologically the skull cap is large, there is an absence of a thick brow, and the projection of the head is modern. There is no doubt that the burial of Staroselie is Homo sapiens. The child of Pech de l'Aze is the same biological age as Staroselie one, thus we used both of them to study craniofacial morphology into the context of Neanderthals and modern humans developmental trajectories. The Pech de l'Aze child was first described by Patte and then by Ferembach et al. The geological age of the specimen is 51-41 cal kya BP (Soressi et al., 2006). The individual is similar to other Neanderthals by it craniofacial morphology. Craniofacial morphology analysis is considered as a complex of three anatomically separated modules of neurocranium, face and mandible [Kondo et al., 2005]. We compare growth profiles (changes in size) and allometric relationship of each module for 28 nonadult Neanderthals, 21 nonadult Paleolithic AMH and 470 modern children. Comparative data show the close allometric relationship of Neanderthals and Staroselie child only in neurocranium/face developmental trend. Investigation was done in frame of the grant RFBR 13-06-12035.
Key words: Paleolithic, Neanderthals, Modern Humans, ontogenesis
Contact information: Kharitonov Vitaliy, e-mail: 1605vit@rambler.ru.
NEANDERTHALS IN ALTAI HIGHLAND AND THEIR MORPHOLOGICAL
PATTERNS
Mednikova Maria
Institute of archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Neanderthal remains in Altai are identified in locations subdivided by hundreds of kilometers. The purpose of this study is to considertheir postcranial morphological patterns. Okladnikov Cave. Several specimens shared a combination of archaic and unique characteristics. While the totality of postcranial morphological traits suggests that those humans were Neanderthals, certain archaic traits link them with Homo erectus (Mednikova, 2011a). They were least similar to early anatomically modern humans of the Skhul and Qafzeh group and most similar to Near Eastern Neanderthals such as Tabun C1 and partly Shanidar. Denisova Cave. Recently studied high-quality genome sequence of a woman indicated Neanderthal presence in "home cave" of Denisovans (Prufer et al., 2014). The proximal pedal phalanx of DNA owner from Denisova Cave is broad relative to its height (Mednikova, 2011b). This opposes the Denisova individual to most modern members of the genus Homo. The specimen is even broader and more robust than the phalanges of Neanderthals or early modern humans. The extraordinary inner robusticity of that bone was atypical even for many Neanderthals.A distal phalanx of the left (?) hand of Homo, found in level 12 of Denisova Cave in 2011, resembles Neanderthal phalanges in terms of length, width of apical tuft, and relative flattening, differing from them by a somewhat greater transversal hypertrophy of the shaft (Mednikova, 2013a). Recent finds from Chagyrskaya cave were more "Neanderthal-like". E.g., based on dimensions, proportions, pathological changes, and indicators of habitual activity of ulnaits owner was apparently a Neanderthal - a robust male similar to certain Near Eastern Neanderthals such as Shanidar (Mednikova, 2013b). Altai caves became homeland for Neanderthals who seemed to be various from morphological point of view. The results can reflect different waves of Neanderthal migration or/and different level of hybridization with another inhabitants of Central Asia, like Denisovans. The study was supported by RFBR ofi-m 13-06-1224.
Key words: Altai Neanderhals, postcranial morphology, Chagyrskaya, Okladnikov, Denisova caves
Contact information: Mednikova Maria, e-mail: medma_pa@mail.ru.
19 Конгресс Европейской Антропологической Ассоциации МГУ имени М.В.Ломоносова, Москва, 25-29 августа, 2014
Вестник Московского университета. Серия XXIII АНТРОПОЛОГИЯ — 3/2014
