In this latest volume in the Human Evolution Series, Erik Trinkaus and his co-authors synthesize the research and findings concerning the human remains found at the Sunghir archaeological site. It has long been apparent to those in the field of paleoanthropology that the human fossil remains from the site of Sunghir are an important part of the human paleoanthropological record, and that these fossil remains have the potential to provide substantial data and inferences concerning human biology and behavior, both during the earlier Upper Paleolithic and concerning the early phases of human occupation of high latitude continental Eurasia. But despite many separate investigations and published studies on the site and its findings, a single and definitive volume does not yet exist on the subject. This book combines the expertise of four paleoanthropologists to provide a comprehensive description and paleobiological analysis of the Sunghir human remains. Since 1990, Trinkaus et al. have had access to the Sunghir site and its findings, and the authors have published frequently on the topic. The book places these human fossil remains in context with other Late Pleistocene humans, utilizing numerous comparative charts, graphs, and figures. As such, the book is highly illustrated, in color. Trinkaus and his co-authors outline the many advances in paleoanthropology that these remains have helped to bring about, examining the Sunghir site from all angles.
The Mid Upper Paleolithic Sunghir 3 late juvenile early modern human, from the most elaborate burial in the Pleistocene, had pathologically foreshortened and anteriorly bowed femora and, based on her dental enamel hypoplasias and transverse lines, sustained severe and persistent systemic stress throughout her decade of life. Her modest femoral and tibial asymmetry and her femoral bicondylar angles indicate non-pathological patterns of posture and locomotion. The levels of rigidity for her weight-bearing tibiae and the non-dominant left arm reflect normal weight-bearing and manipulation. These indicators are combined with an elevated level of right humeral strength, leading to pronounced humeral diaphyseal asymmetry, combined with elevated muscular insertion asymmetry. In combination with marked upper limb muscle markings and normal levels of bone formation, these reflections of her robustness indicate that she was fully mobile and participated actively in the tasks of her social group. There is no indication of the skeletal hypotrophy/atrophy that would be associated with less than full participation in the mobility and subsistence of her social group. As such, Sunghir 3 joins a growing list of developmentally or degeneratively pathological Late Pleistocene humans who nonetheless remained mobile and active.
Considerations of the mortuary behavior at Sunghir concern principally the two elaborate graves, Graves 1 and 2. Although each exhibits patterns evident elsewhere in Mid Upper Paleolithic burials, the combinations of features and the richness of the two graves is truly exceptional. Yet there is additional evidence for mortuary behavior, principally associated with the Sunghir 5 cranium and for the burial above Grave 2 (here designated as Grave 2bis). The Sunghir graves have been described in detail by O.N. Bader (1998), and additional analyses of the associated materials have been done by White (1993, 1999) and Khlopachev (2006). Information on them is available from additional sources (e.g., Bader 1978; Soffer 1985; Abramova 1995; Bader and Bader 2000; Pettitt 2011), as well as from numerous short reports. Of these, the primary sources are those of O.N. Bader from the excavations and excavation analysis and of White and Khlopachev from analysis of the original material in the Vladimir District Regional Museum. The description here is an amalgamation of information from these and other sources. There are some inconsistencies between the different sources, and when possible they have been sorted out using the diagrams, and especially the discussion and in situ photographs, provided by O.N. Bader (1998). In the discussions of the graves and their contents, it should be kept in mind that many of the objects found in the graves and clearly associated with the human remains also occur in reasonable numbers in the cultural layer (cf. Bader 1978). This applies to the ochre, the several varieties of ivory beads, small stone pendants, animal figurines, tubular bones, pierced canines (arctic fox and wolf), and ivory spears (or fragments thereof). Additional decorative objects not found in the burials, such as shell beads and engravings, also derive from the cultural layer. It remains unclear whether these finds from the cultural layer were artifacts and aspects of body decoration that were common among the individuals at Sunghir (some of which happened to be preserved in abundance in the graves), whether their occurrence in the cultural layer is the result of pieces lost in the process of preparing the burials, whether the isolated pieces are from disturbed (unknown) burials, or whether (as suggested by Bader 1978) they come from discarded pieces of clothing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.