Neanderthal hand and foot remains from Moula‐Guercy, Ardèche, France

Abstract

The hand and foot remains from Moula-Guercy cave (Ardèche, France) comprise 24 specimens of Eemian age (ca. 120 ka). The specimens include primarily complete elements, which are rare among the Moula-Guercy postcrania. The hand remains have several characteristic Neanderthal traits including a laterally facing (parasagittally oriented) second metacarpal-capitate articulation, a short styloid process, a wide proximal articular surface on the third metacarpal, and absolutely expanded apical tuberosities on the distal hand phalanges relative to modern humans. The foot remains include several incomplete elements along with an antimeric pair of naviculars, a medial cuneiform and cuboid, and a single complete element from each of the distal segments (one each: metatarsal, proximal foot phalanx, intermediate foot phalanx, distal foot phalanx). Consistent among the specimens are relatively wide diaphyses for length in the metatarsals and phalanges and large and prominent muscle attachments, both consistent with previously published Neanderthal morphology. The hand and foot collection from Moula-Guercy is an important dataset for future studies of Neanderthal functional morphology, dexterity, and behavior as it represents a previously undersampled time period for European Neanderthals.

Newly discovered Neanderthal remains from Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan, and their attribution to Shanidar 5

“…The navicular demonstrates clear Neanderthal affinities: it is broad, with a markedly expanded tuberosity for the attachment of the plantar calcaneo-navicular ligament and the insertion of the tibialis posterior muscle. This expanded tuberosity is commonly observed in other Neanderthal specimens (McCown and Keith, 1939;Heim, 1982;Trinkaus, 1983b;Harvati et al, 2013;Mersey et al, 2013) and to a lesser extent in the earlier Sima de los Huesos hominins (Pablos et al, 2007), but distinct from H. sapiens.…”

“…[FIGURE 10 NEAR HERE] Many characteristics of Neanderthal tali fall within the modern human range, albeit tending to have larger joint surfaces and to fall at the more robust end of the distribution (Rhoads and Trinkaus, 1977;Trinkaus, 1983b;Mersey et al, 2013;Pablos et al, 2013bPablos et al, , 2017a. The morphology of SH15A 69.1 is consistent with this pattern.…”

“…The expanded tuberosity is thought to indicate reinforcement of the medial longitudinal arch as a response to greater overall loading and consequent robustness of the Neanderthal lower limb skeleton (Rhoads and Trinkaus, 1977;Vandermeersch, 1981;Trinkaus, 1983aTrinkaus, , 1983b. In common with other Neanderthal navicular bones (Heim, 1982;Mersey et al, 2013), there is no groove between the talar facet and the tuberosity, reflecting expansion of the latter. The lateral cuneiform facet is deep and concave, the medial cuneiform facet is well defined and relatively triangular in shape, and the talar facet is subrectangular.…”

“…The trochlea is square rather than posteriorly narrow and the anterior and middle calcaneal articular surfaces are completely fused. This fusion of the facets is seen in 96% of Neanderthals (n = 25; data from Trinkaus, 1975a;Mersey et al, 2013;Pablos et al, 2012) and all 17 specimens from Sima de los Huesos (Pablos et al, 2012(Pablos et al, , 2013b. This compares with 88.9% of Pleistocene H. sapiens (n = 17) and 55-75% of individuals in samples of recent H. sapiens (Trinkaus, 1975a: Table 64;Pablos et al, 2012).…”

Neanderthal axial and appendicular remains from Moula‐Guercy, Ardèche, France

“…This research, along with subsequent thermoluminescent dating of an ash layer higher in the sequence at 72 ka (Sanzelle et al, ), placed the Neanderthal material within the Eemian interglacial. This study describes the morphology of the axial and appendicular remains from Moula‐Guercy but excludes hand and foot bones (for other descriptions see, Hlusko et al, ; Mersey et al, ).…”