Premium
The postcranial dimensions of the La Chapelle‐aux‐saints 1 Neandertal
Author(s) -
Trinkaus Erik
Publication year - 2011
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.21528
Subject(s) - postcrania , anatomy , femoral head , context (archaeology) , pleistocene , neanderthal , geology , paleontology , biology , geography , archaeology , taxon
The La Chapelle‐aux‐Saints 1 Neandertal has figured prominently in considerations of Neandertal body size and proportions. In this context, a reassessment of its major long bones and a reassembly of its principal pelvic elements (sacrum and right ilium) was undertaken. There are secure measurements for its humeral and radial lengths and its femoral head diameter, but the femoral and tibial lengths were almost certainly greater than previous values. The resultant humeral, femoral and tibial lengths are similar to those of other male Neandertals, its femoral head diameter is among the largest known for Middle and Late Pleistocene humans, but its radial length is relatively short. The pelvic assembly provides modest bi‐iliac and inlet transverse diameters compared with the few sufficiently complete and undistorted Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic human pelves, but its dimensions are similar to those of large male early modern humans. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2011. © 2011Wiley‐Liss, Inc.