Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Distinct among Neanderthals: The scapula of the skeleton from Altamura, Italy
Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 217, Year 2019
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
The exceptionally well-preserved Neanderthal skeleton discovered in October 1993 within the Lamalunga cave near Altamura (Puglia, Italy) has been recently dated to a late Middle Pleistocene chronology, bracketed between 128.2 and 187.0 ka. Although the skeleton is still sealed in situ, in 2009 and 2015 a large part of its fragmentary right scapula was removed from the cave in three pieces, following a protocol aimed at preventing any biological contamination prior to aDNA extraction and analysis. The three fragments taken together preserve the glenoid fossa, the roots of both the coracoid and acromial processes, the superior two-thirds of the axillary border, portions of the spine, and part of the supraspinous fossa. This scapula is described here in detail for the first time. Morphological analyses show that it falls within the range of Neanderthal variability and also approaches the Mid-Pleistocene sample from Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos. However, the scapula from Altamura exhibits a bisulcate/ventral pattern of the axillary border: a feature that is uncommon for a Neanderthal and, more in general, among the European archaic humans of the Middle and Late Pleistocene. The scapula from Altamura expands our knowledge of the postcranial variability along the Neanderthal lineage. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd
Authors & Co-Authors
Di Vincenzo, Fabio
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Churchill, Steven Emilio
United States, Durham
Duke University
Buzi, Costantino
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Profico, Antonio
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Tafuri, Mary Anne
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Micheli, Mario
Italy, Rome
Università Degli Studi Roma Tre
Caramelli, David
Italy, Florence
Università Degli Studi Di Firenze
Manzi, Giorgio
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Statistics
Citations: 13
Authors: 8
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.11.023
ISSN:
02773791