The morphological affinities of the Middle Pleistocene hominin teeth from Pontnewydd Cave, Wales

Abstract

Seventeen Middle Pleistocene hominin teeth were excavated at Pontnewydd Cave in North Wales between 1980 and 1995 with a probable age of ∼225 ka, associated with handaxe and levallois artefacts. Their Neanderthal characteristics and their affinities with other European Middle Pleistocene teeth and the major sites of Atapuerca‐SH in Spain and Krapina in Croatia are explored. The Pontnewydd teeth are shown to have a marked similarity to those of Atapuerca‐SH, more pronounced than similarities to teeth from other European Middle Pleistocene sites, and to belong in the pre‐Neanderthal stage of Neanderthal evolution. Distinct dental morphological differences between later European Middle Pleistocene specimens, together with those from Atapuerca‐SH, and European Middle Pleistocene Homo heidelbergensis specimens are identified, contradicting the view that both the Pontnewydd and the Atapuerca‐SH fossils belong in that species. Additionally, the similarities in dental morphology between European and non‐European H. heidelbergensis specimens are demonstrated. We argue that when sites are grouped together for comparative purposes this should be done on morphological grounds, and not by apparent date, in view of the possible contemporaneity of European Middle Pleistocene sites that exhibit different degrees of Neanderthal affinities.

Early Pleistocene hominin deciduous teeth from the Homo antecessor Gran Dolina‐TD6 bearing level (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)

“…In contrast, the two preserved Arago dm 2 s (Arago 12 and 27) show a relatively distal displacement of the lingual cusps forming a rhomboidal occlusal polygon. The same morphology is present in the rest of the Neandertals analysed (Chateauneuf 2, Roc de Marsal, and in all the Krapina dm 2 s), as well as in the Pontnewydd PN4 specimen (Compton & Stringer, ). In ATD6‐104 a crista obliqua connecting the protocone and metacone is present (grade 1 of Martinón‐Torres et al, ).…”

Twentieth anniversary of Homo antecessor (1997‐2017): a review

“…If this is the case, they could be lumped in H. heidelbergensis , following the criterion of some colleagues, and assuming that the Mauer mandible lacks Neandertal features (but see below). Therefore, and given the chronology obtained at some European Middle Pleistocene sites, Daura et al have asserted that at least two hominin lineages could have coexisted in Europe . Thus, these authors explicitly suggest the coexistence in Europe of H. heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis .…”

A reassessment of the Montmaurin-La Niche mandible (Haute Garonne, France) in the context of European Pleistocene human evolution

“…However, the European hominin fossil record shows a complex variability, which seems to be incompatible with a linear model. Some hominins of the mid- Middle Pleistocene share an important number of features with Neandertals, particularly in the facial skeleton and teeth, such as the Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos (SH) hominins [ 13 ], Swanscombe [ 14 ], and Pontnewydd [ 15 ]. In contrast, other roughly contemporaneous hominins, like those of Arago, exhibit a more ‘primitive’ pattern or, in other words, a less-derived Neandertal cranial and dental morphology [ 16 ].…”