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Morphology and function of the lumbar spine of the Kebara 2 Neandertal
Author(s) -
Been Ella,
Peleg Smadar,
Marom Assaf,
Barash Alon
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.21256
Subject(s) - lumbar , lumbar spine , anatomy , spine (molecular biology) , morphology (biology) , bipedalism , biology , medicine , paleontology , surgery , bioinformatics
The morphology of the lumbar spine is crucial for upright posture and bipedal walking in hominids. The excellent preservation of the lumbar spine of Kebara 2 provides us a rare opportunity to observe a complete spine and explore its functionally relevant morphology. The lumbar spine of Kebara 2 is analyzed and compared with the lumbar spines of modern humans and late Pleistocene hominids. Although no size differences between the vertebral bodies and pedicles of Kebara 2 and modern humans are found, significant differences in the size and orientation of the transverse processes (L 1 ‐L 4 ), and the laminae (L 5 , S 1 ) are demonstrated. The similarity in the size of the vertebral bodies and pedicles of Kebara 2 and modern humans suggests similarity in axial load transmission along the lumbar spine. The laterally projected (L 2 ‐L 4 ) and the cranially oriented (L 1 , L 3 ) transverse processes of Kebara 2 show an advantage for lateral flexion of the lumbar spine compared with modern humans. The characteristic morphology of the lumbar spine of Kebara 2 might be related to the wide span of its pelvic bones. Am J Phys Anthropol 142:549–557, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.