Philipp Gunz and Ekaterina Bulygina contributed equally to this work.
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Research Article
The Mousterian child from Teshik-Tash is a Neanderthal: A geometric morphometric study of the frontal bone
Article first published online: 14 SEP 2012
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22133
Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Gunz, P. and Bulygina, E. (2012), The Mousterian child from Teshik-Tash is a Neanderthal: A geometric morphometric study of the frontal bone. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 149: 365–379. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22133
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Philipp Gunz and Ekaterina Bulygina contributed equally to this work.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 13 OCT 2012
- Article first published online: 14 SEP 2012
- Manuscript Accepted: 23 JUL 2012
- Manuscript Received: 3 MAY 2012
Keywords:
- procrustes;
- semilandmarks;
- developmental simulation;
- hominin;
- evolution
Abstract
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. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.