TY - JOUR
T1 - Middle paleolithic and uluzzian human remains from fumane cave, Italy
AU - Benazzi, Stefano
AU - Bailey, Shara E.
AU - Peresani, Marco
AU - Mannino, Marcello A.
AU - Romandini, Matteo
AU - Richards, Michael P.
AU - Hublin, Jean Jacques
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to H. Temming for technical support. We wish to thank the Editor (Dr. S. Elton), the Associate Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their important comments, which improved tremendously the manuscript. Research at Fumane is coordinated by the Ferrara University in the framework of a project supported by the Ministry of Culture – Veneto Archaeological Superintendency, public institutions (Lessinia Mountain Community – Regional Natural Park, Fumane Municipality, Veneto Region – Department for Cultural Heritage), and private associations and companies (Cariverona Foundation, Banca CC Valpolicella-Benaco, Roberto Gardina & C., Albino Armani Vinegrowers, Dental Clinic Rea Sibilla).
PY - 2014/5
Y1 - 2014/5
N2 - The site of Fumane Cave (western Lessini Mountains, Italy) contains a stratigraphic sequence spanning the Middle to early Upper Paleolithic. During excavations from 1989 to 2011, four human teeth were unearthed from the Mousterian (Fumane 1, 4, 5) and Uluzzian (Fumane 6) levels of the cave. In this contribution, we provide the first morphological description and morphometric analysis of the dental remains. All of the human remains, except for Fumane 6, are deciduous teeth. Based on metric data (crown and cervical outline analysis, and lateral enamel thickness) and non-metric dental traits (e.g., mid-trigonid crest), Fumane 1 (lower left second deciduous molar) clearly belongs to a Neandertal. For Fumane 4 (upper right central deciduous incisor), the taxonomic attribution is difficult due to heavy incisal wear. Some morphological features observed in Fumane 5 (lower right lateral deciduous incisor), coupled with the large size of the tooth, support Neandertal affinity. Fumane 6, a fragment of a permanent molar, does not show any morphological features useful for taxonomic discrimination. The human teeth from Fumane Cave increase the sample of Italian fossil remains, and emphasize the need to develop new methods to extract meaningful taxonomic information from deciduous and worn teeth.
AB - The site of Fumane Cave (western Lessini Mountains, Italy) contains a stratigraphic sequence spanning the Middle to early Upper Paleolithic. During excavations from 1989 to 2011, four human teeth were unearthed from the Mousterian (Fumane 1, 4, 5) and Uluzzian (Fumane 6) levels of the cave. In this contribution, we provide the first morphological description and morphometric analysis of the dental remains. All of the human remains, except for Fumane 6, are deciduous teeth. Based on metric data (crown and cervical outline analysis, and lateral enamel thickness) and non-metric dental traits (e.g., mid-trigonid crest), Fumane 1 (lower left second deciduous molar) clearly belongs to a Neandertal. For Fumane 4 (upper right central deciduous incisor), the taxonomic attribution is difficult due to heavy incisal wear. Some morphological features observed in Fumane 5 (lower right lateral deciduous incisor), coupled with the large size of the tooth, support Neandertal affinity. Fumane 6, a fragment of a permanent molar, does not show any morphological features useful for taxonomic discrimination. The human teeth from Fumane Cave increase the sample of Italian fossil remains, and emphasize the need to develop new methods to extract meaningful taxonomic information from deciduous and worn teeth.
KW - Deciduous teeth
KW - Homo neanderthalensis
KW - Homo sapiens
KW - Late Pleistocene
KW - Southern Europe
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 24666601
AN - SCOPUS:84899101190
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 70
SP - 61
EP - 68
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
IS - 1
ER -