Neanderthal Man and Homo sapiens in Central and Eastern Europe [and Comments and Reply]

The temporal bone is the location of several traits thought to differentiate Neanderthals from modern humans, including some proposed Neanderthal-derived traits. Most of these, however, are difficult to measure and are usually described qualitatively. This study applied the techniques of geometric morphometrics to the complex morphology of the temporal bone, in order to quantify the differences observed between Neanderthal and modern human anatomy. Two hundred and seventy modern human crania were measured, representing 9 populations of 30 individuals each, and spanning the extremes of the modern human geographical range. Twelve Neanderthal specimens, as well as Reilingen, Kabwe, Skhul 5, Qafzeh 9, and 4 Late Paleolithic European specimens, were included in the fossil sample. The data were collected in the form of three-dimensional (3-D) landmark coordinates, and specimen configurations were superimposed using generalized Procrustes analysis. The fitted coordinates were then analyzed by an array of multivariate statistical methods, including principal components analysis, canonical variates analysis, and Mahalanobis D(2). The temporal bone landmark analysis was very successful in separating Neanderthals from modern humans. Neanderthals were separated from modern humans in both the principal components and canonical variates analyses. They were much further in Mahalanobis distances from all modern human populations than any two modern human groups were from each other. Most of the previously described temporal bone traits contributed to this separation.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative analysis of Neanderthal temporal bone morphology using three‐dimensional geometric morphometrics

Harvati

2003

“…Individual specimens utilized and references to their dating and overall morphology are listed in Appendix I. In addition to these, observations on casts and published descriptions of the P?edmosti hominids (Matiegka, 1934;Jelinek, 1969Jelinek, , 1976 and MladeE VI (Jelinek, 1976) are also included in certain morphological discussions.4…”

Section: Upper Pleistocene Hominids From the Pannonian Basin And Surrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the supraorbital region in Upper Pleistocene fossil hominids from South‐Central Europe

Smith

Ranyard

1980

South-Central European fossil hominids dated to the Upper Pleistocene exhibit a distinct morphological and metric continuum in supraorbital form from early Neandertal (Krapina), through late Neandertals (Vindija), to early Upper Paleolithic hominids. The supraorbital morphologies pertinent to this continuum are documented, and the alterations in size and morphology are discussed relative to the function of supraorbital superstructures and their relationship to overall craniofacial form. It is concluded that this continuum most likely reflects localized transition between Neandertals and modern man in this region of Europe.

“…Most authors agree that Teshik‐Tash remains belong to a subadult individual. Further studies of Teshik‐Tash (Gremiatsky,1949; Jelinek et al,1969; Vlcek,1991; Kharitonov,2009) agreed that it displays some derived Neanderthal features (Stefan and Trinkaus,1998; Rosas,2001; Trinkaus,2003; Trinkaus et al,2006; Hublin,2009), such as an occipital bun, an oval‐shaped foramen magnum, taurodontism, and shovel‐shaped upper incisors. The skull also exhibits several plesiomorphic Neanderthal features such as a supraorbital ridge and the absence of a chin.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mousterian child from Teshik‐Tash is a Neanderthal: A geometric morphometric study of the frontal bone

Gunz¹,

Булыгина²

2012

In the 1930s subadult hominin remains and Mousterian artifacts were discovered in the Teshik-Tash cave in South Uzbekistan. Since then, the majority of the scientific community has interpreted Teshik-Tash as a Neanderthal. However, some have considered aspects of the morphology of the Teshik-Tash skull to be more similar to fossil modern humans such as those represented at Skhūl and Qafzeh, or to subadult Upper Paleolithic modern humans. Here we present a 3D geometric morphometric analysis of the Teshik-Tash frontal bone in the context of developmental shape changes in recent modern humans, Neanderthals, and early modern humans. We assess the phenetic affinities of Teshik-Tash to other subadult fossils, and use developmental simulations to predict possible adult shapes. We find that the morphology of the frontal bone places the Teshik-Tash child close to other Neanderthal children and that the simulated adult shapes are closest to Neanderthal adults. Taken together with genetic data showing that Teshik-Tash carried mtDNA of the Neanderthal type, as well as its occipital bun, and its shovel-shaped upper incisors, these independent lines of evidence firmly place Teshik-Tash among Neanderthals.