The stratigraphy of the Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Spain) and implications for the origin of the fossil hominin accumulation

Aranburu, Arantza; Arsuaga, Juan Luís; Sala, Nohemi

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.02.044

Cited by 32 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…All of the human remains come from the LU-6 lithostratigraphic unit (17). At least 28 individuals of both sexes and diverse ages at death (18) were preserved, fragmented, and mixed with carnivore bones, mainly of Ursus deningeri (19).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Postcranial morphology of the middle Pleistocene humans from Sima de los Huesos, Spain

Arsuaga

Carretero

Lorenzo

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Current knowledge of the evolution of the postcranial skeleton in the genus Homo is hampered by a geographically and chronologically scattered fossil record. Here we present a complete characterization of the postcranium of the middle Pleistocene paleodeme from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) and its paleobiological implications. The SH hominins show the following: (i) wide bodies, a plesiomorphic character in the genus Homo inherited from their early hominin ancestors; (ii) statures that can be found in modern human middle-latitude populations that first appeared 1.6-1.5 Mya; and (iii) large femoral heads in some individuals, a trait that first appeared during the middle Pleistocene in Africa and Europe. The intrapopulational size variation in SH shows that the level of dimorphism was similar to modern humans (MH), but the SH hominins were less encephalized than Neandertals. SH shares many postcranial anatomical features with Neandertals. Although most of these features appear to be either plesiomorphic retentions or are of uncertain phylogenetic polarity, a few represent Neandertal apomorphies. Nevertheless, the full suite of Neandertal-derived features is not yet present in the SH population. The postcranial evidence is consistent with the hypothesis based on the cranial morphology that the SH hominins are a sister group to the later Neandertals. Comparison of the SH postcranial skeleton to other hominins suggests that the evolution of the postcranium occurred in a mosaic mode, both at a general and at a detailed level.human evolution | bauplan | postcranial anatomy |

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Postcranial morphology of the middle Pleistocene humans from Sima de los Huesos, Spain

Arsuaga

Carretero

Lorenzo

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

160

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Inside this chamber, twelve Lithostratigraphic Units (LU) were defined, but only one of them (LU-6) contains hominin remains ( Fig. 1) (Aranburu et al, 2016). LU-6 consists of plastic red clays with a high density of hominin and carnivore fossils (mainly the bear Ursus deningeri).…”

Section: Sima De Los Huesos Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the time in which the hominin bones accumulated at the SH site, the only possible access routes to the site were through deep (c.13 m) vertical chimneys (Aranburu et al, 2016). Given the skeletal part representation in the collection, composed of all anatomical parts (Arsuaga et al, , 2015, it is likely that entire corpses were deposited at the site.…”

Section: Sima De Los Huesos Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Actually, tooth marks on cranial remains were found in 1.10% (four fragments) of the cranial sample, including score marks on Cr-3 and Cr-4 . On the other hand, the sedimentological features of the homininbearing unit argue against the hypothesis that the hominin bones were transported to SH from a locus of primary accumulation far from their present day location (Aranburu et al, 2016). Lastly, accidental causes for all hominin arrivals to the SH chamber were also recently ruled out, at least for the individual represented by Cr-17, because this individual was already dead before its arrival at the site (Sala et al, 2015b).…”

Section: Sima De Los Huesos Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, because soft tissue decomposition occurs sometime after the death of the individuals, it is also possible that the perimortem fractures of SH crania could have been produced during the free-fall down the vertical shaft (the mode of entry of the hominin cadavers to the site) accidentally or once the individuals were already dead. Another possibility of perimortem fracturing inside the SH chamber after the body arrived at the site is less likely due to the low energy of the environment during the fossils' deposition (Aranburu et al, 2016;Sala et al, 2015b).…”

Section: Mechanisms Of Breakagementioning

confidence: 99%

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