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Juan Luis Arsuaga - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from sima de los huesos
Nature, 2014Co-Authors: Matthias Meyer, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Ignacio Martínez, Qiaomei Fu, Ayinuer Aximupetri, Isabelle Glocke, Birgit NickelAbstract:Excavations of a complex of caves in the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain have unearthed hominin fossils that range in age from the early Pleistocene to the Holocene1. One of these sites, the ‘Sima de los Huesos’ (‘pit of bones’), has yielded the world’s largest assemblage of Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils2,3, onsisting of at least 28 individuals4 dated to over 300,000 years ago5. The skeletal remains share a number of morphological features with fossils classifieds Homo Heidelbergensis and also display distinct neanderthalderived traits6–8. Here we determine an almost complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from Sima de los Huesos and show that it is closely related to the lineage leading to mitochondrial genomes of enisovans 9,10, an eastern Eurasian sister group to Neanderthals. Our results pave the way for DNA research on hominins from the Middle Pleistocene.
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Orofacial pathology in Homo Heidelbergensis: The case of Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain)
Quaternary International, 2013Co-Authors: Ana Gracia-téllez, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Ignacio Martínez, María Martinón-torres, Laura Martín-francés, Alejandro Bonmatí, Jaime LiraAbstract:Abstract This paper presents a detailed palaeopathological study of the orofacial lesions present in Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site. Besides testing a previous diagnosis of periodontal disease, tooth wear, left P 3 fracture and two periapical abscesses, unreported lesions are identified: the I 1 abscess and the M 3 fracture. The timing of the pathological events that have produced the conspicuous bone growth of the maxilla was determined with the aid of computer tomography techniques. This is particularly important to assess the duration/chronicity of the lesions and the cause/s of them. Some physiological particularities of the region affected could account for the maxillary osteitis and concomitant infection as a probable cause of death.
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The Sima de los Huesos (Burgos, northern Spain): palaeoenvironment and habitats of Homo Heidelbergensis during the Middle Pleistocene
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2010Co-Authors: Nuria García, Juan Luis ArsuagaAbstract:Abstract Interpreting how environmental dynamics respond to global climate change and how this has affected human evolution and dispersal is an on-going topic of debate. During the early Middle Pleistocene (∼0.6–0.4 Ma), as compared to earlier, environmental conditions were relatively more stable, with longer climatic cycles alternating between open and forested landscapes. During this interval, humans spread successfully providing an important number of fossil sites where fossils or tools are reported. The Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos (Burgos, northern Spain) site (Atapuerca-SH) is one of the earliest localities with hominin evidence in the European Middle Pleistocene, with the most important accumulation of Homo Heidelbergensis so far. We have analyzed the abundant faunal record from Sima de los Huesos, which is mainly comprised of carnivores, in order to approach an interpretation of the palaeoenvironmental circumstances where these hominids inhabited within the Sierra. Other sites from Sierra de Atapuerca referred to the same Faunal Unit (FU 6), are roughly contemporaneous, and include important ungulates, which are here analyzed with Atapuerca-SH. Additional information provided by isotopic analysis helps elucidate the ancient ecology of taxa present in Sima de los Huesos allowing for an accurate portrayal of the setting in which humans lived. The timing of the spread of Homo Heidelbergensis is dominated by a relative climatic and environmental stability and points to a landscape dominated by savannah-like open woodland.
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The earliest evidence of true lambdoid craniosynostosis: the case of “Benjamina”, a Homo Heidelbergensis child
Child's Nervous System, 2010Co-Authors: Ana Gracia, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Juan F. Martínez-lage, Ignacio Martínez, Carlos Lorenzo, Miguel-Ángel Pérez-espejoAbstract:Background The authors report the morphological and neuroimaging findings of an immature human fossil (Cranium 14) diagnosed with left lambdoid synostosis. Discussion The skull was recovered at the Sima de los Huesos site in Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). Since the human fossil remains from this site have been dated to a minimum age of 530,000 years, this skull represents the earliest evidence of craniosynostosis occurring in a hominid. A brief historical review of craniosynostosis and cranial deformation is provided.
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The earliest evidence of true lambdoid craniosynostosis: the case of “Benjamina”, a Homo Heidelbergensis child
Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, 2010Co-Authors: Ana Gracia, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Juan F. Martínez-lage, Ignacio Martínez, Carlos Lorenzo, Miguel-Ángel Pérez-espejoAbstract:Background The authors report the morphological and neuroimaging findings of an immature human fossil (Cranium 14) diagnosed with left lambdoid synostosis.
Ignacio Martínez - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from sima de los huesos
Nature, 2014Co-Authors: Matthias Meyer, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Ignacio Martínez, Qiaomei Fu, Ayinuer Aximupetri, Isabelle Glocke, Birgit NickelAbstract:Excavations of a complex of caves in the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain have unearthed hominin fossils that range in age from the early Pleistocene to the Holocene1. One of these sites, the ‘Sima de los Huesos’ (‘pit of bones’), has yielded the world’s largest assemblage of Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils2,3, onsisting of at least 28 individuals4 dated to over 300,000 years ago5. The skeletal remains share a number of morphological features with fossils classifieds Homo Heidelbergensis and also display distinct neanderthalderived traits6–8. Here we determine an almost complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from Sima de los Huesos and show that it is closely related to the lineage leading to mitochondrial genomes of enisovans 9,10, an eastern Eurasian sister group to Neanderthals. Our results pave the way for DNA research on hominins from the Middle Pleistocene.
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Orofacial pathology in Homo Heidelbergensis: The case of Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain)
Quaternary International, 2013Co-Authors: Ana Gracia-téllez, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Ignacio Martínez, María Martinón-torres, Laura Martín-francés, Alejandro Bonmatí, Jaime LiraAbstract:Abstract This paper presents a detailed palaeopathological study of the orofacial lesions present in Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site. Besides testing a previous diagnosis of periodontal disease, tooth wear, left P 3 fracture and two periapical abscesses, unreported lesions are identified: the I 1 abscess and the M 3 fracture. The timing of the pathological events that have produced the conspicuous bone growth of the maxilla was determined with the aid of computer tomography techniques. This is particularly important to assess the duration/chronicity of the lesions and the cause/s of them. Some physiological particularities of the region affected could account for the maxillary osteitis and concomitant infection as a probable cause of death.
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The earliest evidence of true lambdoid craniosynostosis: the case of “Benjamina”, a Homo Heidelbergensis child
Child's Nervous System, 2010Co-Authors: Ana Gracia, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Juan F. Martínez-lage, Ignacio Martínez, Carlos Lorenzo, Miguel-Ángel Pérez-espejoAbstract:Background The authors report the morphological and neuroimaging findings of an immature human fossil (Cranium 14) diagnosed with left lambdoid synostosis. Discussion The skull was recovered at the Sima de los Huesos site in Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). Since the human fossil remains from this site have been dated to a minimum age of 530,000 years, this skull represents the earliest evidence of craniosynostosis occurring in a hominid. A brief historical review of craniosynostosis and cranial deformation is provided.
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The earliest evidence of true lambdoid craniosynostosis: the case of “Benjamina”, a Homo Heidelbergensis child
Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, 2010Co-Authors: Ana Gracia, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Juan F. Martínez-lage, Ignacio Martínez, Carlos Lorenzo, Miguel-Ángel Pérez-espejoAbstract:Background The authors report the morphological and neuroimaging findings of an immature human fossil (Cranium 14) diagnosed with left lambdoid synostosis.
Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Orofacial pathology in Homo Heidelbergensis: The case of Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain)
Quaternary International, 2013Co-Authors: Ana Gracia-téllez, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Ignacio Martínez, María Martinón-torres, Laura Martín-francés, Alejandro Bonmatí, Jaime LiraAbstract:Abstract This paper presents a detailed palaeopathological study of the orofacial lesions present in Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site. Besides testing a previous diagnosis of periodontal disease, tooth wear, left P 3 fracture and two periapical abscesses, unreported lesions are identified: the I 1 abscess and the M 3 fracture. The timing of the pathological events that have produced the conspicuous bone growth of the maxilla was determined with the aid of computer tomography techniques. This is particularly important to assess the duration/chronicity of the lesions and the cause/s of them. Some physiological particularities of the region affected could account for the maxillary osteitis and concomitant infection as a probable cause of death.
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hominin variability climatic instability and population demography in middle pleistocene europe
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2011Co-Authors: Robin Dennell, Maria Martinontorres, Jose Maria Bermudez De CastroAbstract:Abstract We propose a population model for Middle Pleistocene Europe that is based on demographic “sources” and “sinks”. The former were a small number of “core” or populations in glacial refugia in southern Europe from which hominins expanded northwards in interstadial and interglacial periods; occupation outside glacial refugia would have been restricted to warm or temperate periods, and populations at the northern limit of the Middle Pleistocene range would have been “sink” populations in that they depended upon recruitment from source populations further south. Southwest Asia would also have been a likely source of immigrant, source populations. We argue as an alternative to an “ebb and flow” model in which groups retreated to refugia when conditions worsened that local extinction outside refugia would have been frequent. In extreme situations, Europe may have been a population “sink” (i.e. unpopulated) that was replenished from source populations in Southwest Asia. We suggest that this pattern of repeated colonisation and extinction may help explain the morphological variability of European Middle Pleistocene hominins, particularly Homo Heidelbergensis and its apparent non-lineal evolution towards Homo neanderthalensis .
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Crown size and cusp proportions in Homo antecessor upper first molars. A comment on Quam et al. 2009: Homo antecessor upper first molars
Journal of anatomy, 2010Co-Authors: Aida Gómez-robles, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, María Martinón-torres, Leyre Prado-simónAbstract:A recent evaluation of upper first molar (M1) crown size and cusp proportions in the genus Homo (Quam et al. 2009) describes Homo antecessor as maintaining a primitive pattern of cusp proportions, similar to that identified in australopithecines and the earliest members of the genus Homo. These results contrast with those of Gomez-Robles et al. (2007), who described the crown shape in these molars as derived and similar to Neanderthals and European Homo Heidelbergensis. The reassessment of these measurements following the same methodology described by Quam et al. (2009) in all the M1s that are currently part of the hypodigm of H. antecessor demonstrates that the fossils from TD6 not only have the same cusp proportions identified in later Homo species, but also a strongly reduced metacone and a large hypocone shared with Middle and Upper Pleistocene members of the Neanderthal lineage. The evolutionary significance of these features should be evaluated in light of the results provided by recently discovered dental, cranial, mandibular, and postcranial H. antecessor fossils.
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right handedness of Homo Heidelbergensis from sima de los huesos atapuerca spain 500 000 years ago
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2009Co-Authors: Marina Lozano, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Marina Mosquera, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Eudald CarbonellAbstract:Handedness is a product of brain specialization, which in turn seems to be responsible for the higher cognitive capabilities of humans, such as language and technology. Handedness in living humans is well established and shows the highest degree of manual specialization. Studies on hand laterality in nonhuman primates, particularly in chimpanzees, remain a matter of controversy as results tend to vary depending on factors such as the tasks performed and the environment in which the individuals live. Studies in several disciplines have attempted to determine where in the course of human evolution handedness established itself, with evidence collected from sources such as paleoneurological analyses, stone tool flaking, zooarchaeological studies and dental wear analyses, the last one of which have proven the most reliable source of information. Here we report an experimental and paleoanthropological study on hand laterality of a sample of 28 hominids from Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Spain), dated at about 500,000 years ago, and compare our results with dental microwear analysis in other fossil samples such as that from Krapina (Croatia), as well as modern traditional societies. Our results indicate that European Middle Pleistocene Homo Heidelbergensis was already as right-handed as modern populations.
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Surprisingly rapid growth in Neanderthals
Nature, 2004Co-Authors: Fernando Ramirez Rozzi, Jose Maria Bermudez De CastroAbstract:Life-history traits correlate closely with dental growth1, so differences in dental growth within Homo can enable us to determine how somatic development has evolved and to identify developmental shifts that warrant species-level distinctions2,3,4. Dental growth can be determined from the speed of enamel formation (or extension rate)5,6. We analysed the enamel extension rate in Homo antecessor (8 teeth analysed), Homo Heidelbergensis (106), Homo neanderthalensis (‘Neanderthals’; 146) and Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic Homo sapiens (100). Here we report that Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic H. sapiens shared an identical dental development pattern with modern humans, but that H. antecessor and H. Heidelbergensis had shorter periods of dental growth. Surprisingly, Neanderthals were characterized by having the shortest period of dental growth. Because dental growth is an excellent indicator of somatic development1, our results suggest that Neanderthals developed faster even than their immediate ancestor, H. Heidelbergensis. Dental growth became longer and brain size increased from the Plio-Pleistocene in hominid evolution. Neanderthals, despite having a large brain, were characterized by a short period of development. This autapomorphy in growth is an evolutionary reversal, and points strongly to a specific distinction between H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.
Marina Lozano - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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right handedness of Homo Heidelbergensis from sima de los huesos atapuerca spain 500 000 years ago
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2009Co-Authors: Marina Lozano, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Marina Mosquera, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Eudald CarbonellAbstract:Handedness is a product of brain specialization, which in turn seems to be responsible for the higher cognitive capabilities of humans, such as language and technology. Handedness in living humans is well established and shows the highest degree of manual specialization. Studies on hand laterality in nonhuman primates, particularly in chimpanzees, remain a matter of controversy as results tend to vary depending on factors such as the tasks performed and the environment in which the individuals live. Studies in several disciplines have attempted to determine where in the course of human evolution handedness established itself, with evidence collected from sources such as paleoneurological analyses, stone tool flaking, zooarchaeological studies and dental wear analyses, the last one of which have proven the most reliable source of information. Here we report an experimental and paleoanthropological study on hand laterality of a sample of 28 hominids from Sima de los Huesos (Atapuerca, Spain), dated at about 500,000 years ago, and compare our results with dental microwear analysis in other fossil samples such as that from Krapina (Croatia), as well as modern traditional societies. Our results indicate that European Middle Pleistocene Homo Heidelbergensis was already as right-handed as modern populations.
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Paleodemography of the Atapuerca: Sima De Los Huesos Hominin Sample: A Revision and New Approaches to the Paleodemography of the European Middle Pleistocene Population
Journal of Anthropological Research, 2004Co-Authors: Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Marina Lozano, María Martinón-torres, Susana Sarmiento, A. MuelaAbstract:This article analyzes the mortality profiles of two Middle Pleistocene hominin samples, one from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) site in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain) (MNI = 28), and another (MNI = 26) selected from various other European sites. In the SH mortality distribution, 64 percent of the individuals died between the ages of 11 and 20 years, but there is only one individual under the age of 10. In the sample from other European sites, there are four individuals under 10, but the number of individuals in the 11-20 year range is lower (39 percent) than in the SH sample. In both samples, the percentage of individuals who died after the age of 30 is very similar (14.3 percent in SH and 11.5 percent at the other sites), and the differences between both distributions (when infants and children are excluded) are not statistically significant. This article considers whether these mortality distributions follow a catastrophic or an attritional pattern. The discussion is presented in the framework of our current knowledge of the life history pattern of the Homo Heidelbergensis species and the age structure and mortality profile of living foraging groups.
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Rates of anterior tooth wear in Middle Pleistocene hominins from Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003Co-Authors: J.m. Bermúdez De Castro, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Marina Lozano, María Martinón-torres, Susana Sarmiento, Eudald CarbonellAbstract:Abstract This study presents quantitative data on the rates of anterior tooth wear in a Pleistocene human population. The data were obtained for the hominin sample of the Sima de los Huesos site in Atapuerca, Spain. The fossil record belongs to a minimum of 28 individuals of the same biological population, assigned to the species Homo Heidelbergensis. We have estimated the original and the preserved crown height of the mandibular incisors (I1 and I2) of 11 individuals, whose age at death can be ascertained from the mineralization stage and tooth eruption. Results provide a range of 0.276–0.348 and 0.288–0.360 mm per year for the mean wear rate of the mandibular I1 and I2, respectively, in individuals ≈16–18 years old. These data suggest that incisors' crowns would be totally worn out toward the fifth decade of life. Thus, we expect the life expectancy of this population to be seriously limited. These data, which could be contrasted with results obtained on hominins at other sites, could be of interest for estimating the death age of adult individuals.
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Gran Dolina-TD6 versus Sima de los Huesos dental samples from Atapuerca: evidence of discontinuity in the European Pleistocene population?
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2003Co-Authors: J.m. Bermúdez De Castro, María Martinón-torres, Susana Sarmiento, Marina LozanoAbstract:Abstract Comparative analyses between Gran Dolina-TD6 and Sima de los Huesos (SH) dental samples from Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain) suggest that hominins represented by these samples belonged to two very different populations and even to distinct paleospecies. Gran Dolina-TD6 hominins ( Homo antecessor ) have been dated to about 0.8 million years ago (mya), whereas a new radiometric dating of the SH hominins ( Homo Heidelbergensis ) suggests an interval of 0.4–0.5 mya for these hominins. Current results as well as the relative temporal closeness between the populations represented by Gran Dolina-TD6 and SH favour a replacement scenario hypothesis (or possibly a crossbreeding scenario) for the Europeans during the early Middle Pleistocene. Although the information available from the European Lower Pleistocene populations is limited (Ceprano and Gran Dolina-TD6), current data are noteworthy and their combination with archaeological evidence will stimulate future discussions on the dynamics of the first European settlements.
María Martinón-torres - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Orofacial pathology in Homo Heidelbergensis: The case of Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain)
Quaternary International, 2013Co-Authors: Ana Gracia-téllez, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Ignacio Martínez, María Martinón-torres, Laura Martín-francés, Alejandro Bonmatí, Jaime LiraAbstract:Abstract This paper presents a detailed palaeopathological study of the orofacial lesions present in Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site. Besides testing a previous diagnosis of periodontal disease, tooth wear, left P 3 fracture and two periapical abscesses, unreported lesions are identified: the I 1 abscess and the M 3 fracture. The timing of the pathological events that have produced the conspicuous bone growth of the maxilla was determined with the aid of computer tomography techniques. This is particularly important to assess the duration/chronicity of the lesions and the cause/s of them. Some physiological particularities of the region affected could account for the maxillary osteitis and concomitant infection as a probable cause of death.
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Crown size and cusp proportions in Homo antecessor upper first molars. A comment on Quam et al. 2009: Homo antecessor upper first molars
Journal of anatomy, 2010Co-Authors: Aida Gómez-robles, Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, María Martinón-torres, Leyre Prado-simónAbstract:A recent evaluation of upper first molar (M1) crown size and cusp proportions in the genus Homo (Quam et al. 2009) describes Homo antecessor as maintaining a primitive pattern of cusp proportions, similar to that identified in australopithecines and the earliest members of the genus Homo. These results contrast with those of Gomez-Robles et al. (2007), who described the crown shape in these molars as derived and similar to Neanderthals and European Homo Heidelbergensis. The reassessment of these measurements following the same methodology described by Quam et al. (2009) in all the M1s that are currently part of the hypodigm of H. antecessor demonstrates that the fossils from TD6 not only have the same cusp proportions identified in later Homo species, but also a strongly reduced metacone and a large hypocone shared with Middle and Upper Pleistocene members of the Neanderthal lineage. The evolutionary significance of these features should be evaluated in light of the results provided by recently discovered dental, cranial, mandibular, and postcranial H. antecessor fossils.
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Paleodemography of the Atapuerca: Sima De Los Huesos Hominin Sample: A Revision and New Approaches to the Paleodemography of the European Middle Pleistocene Population
Journal of Anthropological Research, 2004Co-Authors: Jose Maria Bermudez De Castro, Marina Lozano, María Martinón-torres, Susana Sarmiento, A. MuelaAbstract:This article analyzes the mortality profiles of two Middle Pleistocene hominin samples, one from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) site in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain) (MNI = 28), and another (MNI = 26) selected from various other European sites. In the SH mortality distribution, 64 percent of the individuals died between the ages of 11 and 20 years, but there is only one individual under the age of 10. In the sample from other European sites, there are four individuals under 10, but the number of individuals in the 11-20 year range is lower (39 percent) than in the SH sample. In both samples, the percentage of individuals who died after the age of 30 is very similar (14.3 percent in SH and 11.5 percent at the other sites), and the differences between both distributions (when infants and children are excluded) are not statistically significant. This article considers whether these mortality distributions follow a catastrophic or an attritional pattern. The discussion is presented in the framework of our current knowledge of the life history pattern of the Homo Heidelbergensis species and the age structure and mortality profile of living foraging groups.
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Rates of anterior tooth wear in Middle Pleistocene hominins from Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003Co-Authors: J.m. Bermúdez De Castro, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Marina Lozano, María Martinón-torres, Susana Sarmiento, Eudald CarbonellAbstract:Abstract This study presents quantitative data on the rates of anterior tooth wear in a Pleistocene human population. The data were obtained for the hominin sample of the Sima de los Huesos site in Atapuerca, Spain. The fossil record belongs to a minimum of 28 individuals of the same biological population, assigned to the species Homo Heidelbergensis. We have estimated the original and the preserved crown height of the mandibular incisors (I1 and I2) of 11 individuals, whose age at death can be ascertained from the mineralization stage and tooth eruption. Results provide a range of 0.276–0.348 and 0.288–0.360 mm per year for the mean wear rate of the mandibular I1 and I2, respectively, in individuals ≈16–18 years old. These data suggest that incisors' crowns would be totally worn out toward the fifth decade of life. Thus, we expect the life expectancy of this population to be seriously limited. These data, which could be contrasted with results obtained on hominins at other sites, could be of interest for estimating the death age of adult individuals.
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Gran Dolina-TD6 versus Sima de los Huesos dental samples from Atapuerca: evidence of discontinuity in the European Pleistocene population?
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2003Co-Authors: J.m. Bermúdez De Castro, María Martinón-torres, Susana Sarmiento, Marina LozanoAbstract:Abstract Comparative analyses between Gran Dolina-TD6 and Sima de los Huesos (SH) dental samples from Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain) suggest that hominins represented by these samples belonged to two very different populations and even to distinct paleospecies. Gran Dolina-TD6 hominins ( Homo antecessor ) have been dated to about 0.8 million years ago (mya), whereas a new radiometric dating of the SH hominins ( Homo Heidelbergensis ) suggests an interval of 0.4–0.5 mya for these hominins. Current results as well as the relative temporal closeness between the populations represented by Gran Dolina-TD6 and SH favour a replacement scenario hypothesis (or possibly a crossbreeding scenario) for the Europeans during the early Middle Pleistocene. Although the information available from the European Lower Pleistocene populations is limited (Ceprano and Gran Dolina-TD6), current data are noteworthy and their combination with archaeological evidence will stimulate future discussions on the dynamics of the first European settlements.