Expression of Nonmetric Dental Traits in Western European Neanderthals

Abstract

Neanderthals of Western Europe lived across distinct ecogeographic zones from Marine Iso-tope Stage 7 to 3. Differences in dental morphology from seven Western European sites are compared in terms of ecogeography and chronology.Neanderthals (n = 12) along a north-south gradient were examined. These included the Meuse River Basin of Belgium (Engis 2 and Scladina 1-4A ), Southwest France (Pech de l'Azé 1 and Roc de Marsal), the Pyrenees (Malarnaud and Montmaurin), and the Mediterranean (Hortus). Montmaurin is the oldest, followed by Scladina 1-4A and Malarnaud, whereas the others are younger.Dental casts were prepared from Neanderthal permanent and deciduous dentition. These were de-scribed and scored, according to the ASUDAS. Comparisons of dental traits with respect to ecogeo-graphic regions and chronological categories were constructed.Unusual dental features observed include the anterior fovea, entoconulid, metaconulid, and Cara-belli’s cusp. Dental traits that distinguish ecogeographic regions are the expression of the M1 hypocone and metaconule, whereas the hypoconulid and Carabelli’s cusp separate chronological categories. Dif-ferences are present for the entoconulid and metaconulid in both comparisons.Neither chronology nor ecogeography fully explains the results. Similarities in dental traits exist between Roc de Marsal, Pech de l’Azé 1 and Engis 2, and secondarily within the Hortus assemblage.

Direct evidence that late Neanderthal occupation precedes a technological shift in southwestern Italy

“…protostylid, anterior fovea and mid-trigonid crest). As pointed out above (see also Figure 2a), these features are typically observed in Neanderthals (Williams et al, 2018) and allow RSS1 to be assigned to this human group. This result is confirmed by morphometric analysis of coronal diameters (Table S12) and outlines (crown and cervical) that corroborate the taxonomic attribution, as well as by the posterior probabilities obtained by all the supervised classification algorithms used in this work (Figure 4, Table S8).…”

“…In this study we also provide the oldest date for the Uluzzian techno-complex in the Tyrrhenian side of the Italian Peninsula (42,380 cal BP) documenting another evidence of Uluzzian occupation. Similarly to Pleistocene (Williams et al, 2018) and recent human samples (Bailey et al, 2011;Margherita et al, 2017;Williams et al, 2018), RSS2 has a crown (Table S13) outline characterized by bucco-distal narrowing, straighter lingual side, and a complex morphology in the occlusal aspect of the EDJ (i.e. crests in the midocclusal basin, but absence of MTC) (Figure 2b).…”

A human lower third molar from the Acheulean site of Cueva del Ángel (Lucena, Córdoba, Spain)

“…The molar has four main cusps and shows a metaconulid (cusp 7), but lacks the hypoconulid (cusp 5). This cusp is present among Neanderthals (Bailey, 2006a; Bailey & Hublin, 2006; Williams et al, 2017) and on Middle Pleistocene M 3 s, except for SH, where it is absent among 26% (Martinón‐Torres et al, 2012). Despite the wear, we can observe that the protoconid is the tallest and largest cusp, whereas the hypoconid and the metaconid are similar to each other in size, and the entoconid is limited to a minor area of the talonid.…”

“…In any case, posterior teeth do not show significant metric differences between Neanderthals and modern humans (Wolpoff, 1971) as there is overlap in the ranges of variation. Second, in contrast to the absence of the hypoconulid in CA‐2019‐E2‐2, the expression of this cusp is almost constant in Neanderthal M 3 s (Bailey, 2006a; Bailey & Hublin, 2006; Martinón‐Torres et al, 2012; Williams et al, 2017; Willman et al, 2010). Actually, those traits in which CA‐2019‐E2‐2 differs from contemporary early Neanderthals are frequent within the MP population from SH.…”

“…The molar has four main cusps and shows a metaconulid (cusp 7), but lacks the hypoconulid (cusp 5). This cusp is present among Neanderthals(Bailey, 2006a;Bailey & Hublin, 2006;Williams et al, 2017) and on Middle Pleistocene M 3 s, except for SH, where it is absent among 26% (Martin on-F I G U R E 3 Crown of CA-2019-E2-2: (a) Photographs in distal (D), lingual (L), mesial (M), buccal (B), and cervical (C) views. (b) Photograph in occlusal view (left) and 3D surface model after micro-CT imaging of the OES in occlusal (middle) and oblique (right) views of the crownTorres et al, 2012).…”