Thermoluminescence dates for the Neanderthal burial site at Kebara in Israel

Valladas, Hélène; Joron, Jean Louis; Valladas, G.; Arensburg, Baruch; Bar-Yosef, O.; Belfer‐Cohen, Anna; Goldberg, Paul; Laville, H.; Meignen, Liliane; Rak, Yoel; Tchernov, Eitan; Tillier, Anne-Marie; Vandermeersch, Bernard

doi:10.1038/330159a0

Cited by 217 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…By far the most significant discovery made at Kebara cave in 1982 was that of the most complete Neanderthal skeleton dating from 60,000 to 48,000 years ago (Kebara 2, nicknamed ''Moshe''). This skeleton retains a large part of the torso (vertebral column, ribs and pelvis)-however, the head and lower limbs are missing [2,3,11,14]. Our re-examination of this specimen revealed signs of lumbar anomalies.…”

Section: Case Reportmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…This contributes to the Fig. 1 All lumbar spine elements constituting a joint unit in the Neanderthal skeleton Kebara 2 were examined for evidence of degenerative changes, and only two regions of mild degenerative spine disease were found: a Marginal osteophytes without uneven joint surfaces (grade 1 in [17]) in the right L5-S1 facet joint (spondylarthrosis); b marginal osteophytes on the left lateral part of the vertebral bodies L3 and L4 (spondylosis) [4] b Adult male, 30-35 years of age at death, dating to 60,000-48,000 years before present [3,11,14] c Adult male, 35-50 years of age at the time of death, dating to 45,000 years before present [9] Fig . 2 The bodies of modern humans' L2-L5 vertebrae are dorsally wedged, whereas L1-L4 vertebrae in the two tested Neanderthals are ventrally wedged.…”

Section: Morphology Of the Spinementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The lumbar spine in Neanderthals shows natural kyphosis

Weber¹,

Pusch

2008

Eur Spine J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nowadays, lumbar spondylosis is one of the most frequent causes of lower back pain. In order to improve our understanding of the lumbar spine anatomy and functionality over time, we compared the lumbar vertebrae of Neanderthals with those of anatomically modern humans. The fossil record reports on only two Neanderthal skeletons (i.e., Kebara 2 and Shanidar 3, both predating the appearance of modern humans) with full preservation of the entire lumbar spine. Examination of these early hominids showed that they display natural lumbar kyphosis, with only mild degenerative changes of the lumbar spine (ages at death: 30-35 years, Kebara 2; and 35-50 years, Shanidar 3). This finding is highly unexpected since Neanderthals are known to have had extraordinary physical activity due to demanding living conditions. The adult lumbar spines discussed here therefore show no correlation between high physical activity and degenerative spine disease as known from recent times. We speculate that both the kyphosis itself and the massive and heavily muscled skeleton of Neanderthals are causative for the minimal bone degeneration. We conclude that a kyphotic lumbar spine is the natural anatomy in these two Neanderthal individuals. Future research will reveal if this holds true for the entire Neanderthal species.

show abstract

Section: Case Reportmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Morphology Of the Spinementioning

confidence: 99%

The lumbar spine in Neanderthals shows natural kyphosis

Weber¹,

Pusch

2008

Eur Spine J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Thermoluminescence dates on flint have been obtained for Beds VI (youngest) to XII (oldest) by Valladas et al (1987), but were only reported as mean dates for each layer. Schwarcz et al (1989) obtained ESR dates for Bed X, the bed that they presumed "corresponds most closely to the "living floor" at the time of burial."…”

Section: Comment [Msu45]: Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critique of the chronometric evidence for hominid fossils: I. Africa and the Near East 500–50ka

Millard¹

2008

Journal of Human Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThe chronometric dating evidence for all hominid fossils from Africa and the Near East that have previously been dated to 500-50 ka is critically assessed using the concept of chronometric hygiene, and these dates are revised using Bayesian statistical analyses where possible. Sixteen relevant hominid sites lacking chronometric evidence are briefly discussed.Chronometric evidence from 37 sites is assessed in detail. The dates for many hominid fossils are poorly constrained, with a number dated by comparisons of faunal assemblages a method that does not have good chronological resolution for much of the last million years. For sites with stratigraphic sequences of dates, it is generally possible to refine the dating, but in some cases, the revised chronology is less precise than previous chronologies. Fossils over 200 ka in age tend to be poorly dated, but for the last 200 ka, dating is better due to the availability of electron-spinresonance and thermoluminescence dating. Consideration of the chronologies favored by the proponents of the out-of-Africa and multiregional hypotheses of human evolution shows their selectivity. The chronological assessment of the fossils here is compatible with either hypothesis.If evolutionary schemes that do not rely on the morphology of the hominid fossils to decide the sequence of fossils are to be built, then further dating is required, alongside full publication of existing dates.3

show abstract

“…Near Eastern Neanderthals are known from a number of 50,000-to 120,000-year-old sites in Israel, Syria, and Iraq (1)(2)(3)(4). Neanderthals were craniofacially distinct, highly active, and comparatively very muscular.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neanderthals were craniofacially distinct, highly active, and comparatively very muscular. The fossil remains from the Ϸ80,000-to 100,000-year-old site of Skhul (5) and the Ϸ100,000-year-old site of Qafzeh (1,2), both in Israel, are craniofacially more modern and less muscular than Neanderthals. Both groups are associated with Middle Paleolithic archeological complexes (6)(7)(8)(9), indicating they used typologically and technologically similar toolkits for their subsistence activities.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral inferences from the Skhul/Qafzeh early modern human hand remains

Niewoehner

2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two groups of humans are found in the Near East Ϸ100,000 years ago, the late archaic Neanderthals and the early modern Skhul͞ Qafzeh humans. Observations that Neanderthals were more heavily muscled, had stronger upper-limb bones, and possessed unusual shapes and orientations of some upper-limb joint complexes relative to the Skhul͞Qafzeh hominids, have led some researchers to conclude that significant between-group upperlimb-related behavioral differences must have been present, despite the association of the two groups with similar Middle Paleolithic archeological complexes. A three-dimensional morphometric analysis of the hand remains of the Skhul͞Qafzeh hominids, Neanderthals, early and late Upper Paleolithic humans, and Holocene humans supports the dichotomy. The Skhul͞Qafzeh carpometacarpal remains do not have any unique morphologies relative to the other fossil samples remains examined. However, in the functionally significant metacarpal 1 and 3 bases they resemble Upper Paleolithic humans, not Neanderthals. Furthermore, the Skhul͞Qafzeh sample differs significantly from the Neanderthals in many other aspects of hand functional anatomy. Given the correlations between changes in tool technologies and functional adaptations seen in the hands of Upper Paleolithic humans, it is concluded that the Skhul͞Qafzeh hand remains were adapted to Upper Paleolithic-like manipulative repertoires. These results support the inference of significant behavioral differences between Neanderthals and the Skhul͞Qafzeh hominids and indicate that a significant shift in human manipulative behaviors was associated with the earliest stages of the emergence of modern humans.

show abstract

Thermoluminescence dates for the Neanderthal burial site at Kebara in Israel

Cited by 217 publications

References 0 publications

The lumbar spine in Neanderthals shows natural kyphosis

The lumbar spine in Neanderthals shows natural kyphosis

A critique of the chronometric evidence for hominid fossils: I. Africa and the Near East 500–50ka

Behavioral inferences from the Skhul/Qafzeh early modern human hand remains

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About