doi:10.1016/j.jchb.2007.12.003
Copyright © 2008 Elsevier GmbH All rights reserved.
Variability of the Upper Palaeolithic skulls from Předmostí near Přerov (Czech Republic): Craniometric comparison with recent human standards
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J. Velemínskáa, 
, 
, J. Brůžekb, c, P. Velemínskýd, L. Bigonia, A. Šefčákováe and S. Katinaf
aDepartment of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Praha, Czech Republic
bLaboratoire d’Anthropologie des Populations du Passé et UMR 5809 du CNRS-PACEA, Université Bordeaux I, Talence, France
cDepartment of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, University of West Bohemia, Plzeň, Czech Republic
dDepartment of Anthropology, National Museum, Praha, Czech Republic
eDepartment of Anthropology, Slovak National Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia
fDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and CS, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Received 11 July 2006;
accepted 6 January 2007.
Available online 1 February 2008.
Abstract
One of the largest skeletal series of the Upper Palaeolithic period from Předmostí was destroyed during the Second World War, but the study of this material continues up to the present. The discovery of Matiegka's original photographic documentation on glass plates [Velemínská et al., 2004. The use of recently re-discovered glass plate photo-documentation of those human fossil finds from Předmostí u Přerova destroyed during World War II. J. Nat. Mus. Nat. Hist. Ser. 173, 129–132] gives an opportunity to perform a new and detailed craniometric analysis of five adult skulls in their lateral projection.
The craniometric data were analysed using specialised Craniometrics software, and the analysis included morphological and dimensional comparisons with current Central European norms. The aim of the study was not only to monitor the skull shape as a whole, but predominantly, to evaluate the size and shape of various parts of the splanchnocranium.
The Upper Palaeolithic skulls are significantly longer, and male skulls are also higher than the current norms. The crania of anatomically modern humans are characterised by two general structural features: mid-lower facial retraction and neurocranial globularity. The height of the face of the Palaeolithic skulls corresponds to that of the current Central European population. The face has a markedly longer mandibular body (3–4 SD), while female mandibular rami are shorter. The skulls are further characterised by a smaller gonial angle, the increased steepness of the mandibular ramus, and the greater angle of the chin. These changes in the size and shape associated with anterior rotation of the face produce a strong protrusion of both jaws, but the sagittal inter-maxillary relationships remain unchanged. The observed facial morphology is similar to the Czech Upper Palaeolithic skulls from Dolní Věstonice.
This study confirms the main diachronic changes between skulls of Upper Palaeolithic and present-day human populations.
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Fig. 1. Cephalometric points (landmarks) and reference lines used in this study: Ar (articulare) – intersection of inferior contour of the posterior cranial base and posterior contour of the ramus; B (bregma) – intersection of the coronal and sagittal sutures; Ba (basion) – most posteroinferior point on the clivus; Cd (condylion) – most superior point on the condylar head; G (glabella) – the most anterior point on the arcus superciliaris; Gn (gnathion) – the lowest point of the mandibular symphysis; Go (gonion) – point on the angle of the mandible determined by the axis of ML/RL angle; I (inion) – top of the protuberantia occipitalis externa; Id (infradentale) – point of the alveolar contact with the lower central incisor; L (lambda) – intersection of the sagittal and lambda sutures; N (nasion) – the most anterior point on the frontonasal suture; Op (opistocranion) – point on the surface of the cranial vault farthest from the glabella point; Or (orbitale) – the lowest point on the orbital margin; Pg (pogonion) – the most anterior point on the bony chin; Pgn (prognathion) – point on the mandibular symphysis farthest from Cd; Po (porion) – the most superior point on the porus acusticus externus; Pr (prosthion) – point of alveolar contact with the upper central incisor; Rhi (rhinion) – the most anteroinferior point on the nasal bone; Sm (supramentale) – the deepest point on the anterior contour of the mandibular symphysis; Ss (subspinale) – the deepest point of the subspinal concavity; CL – the line through Pg and Id; FH – the line through Or and Po points; ML – tangent to the mandibular body through Gn; RL – tangent to the mandibular ramus through Ar.
Fig. 2. Illustration of the size and shape differences between a fossil (photograph of skull P1) and a recent (male craniogram) skull.
Fig. 3. Illustration of the size and shape differences between a fossil (photograph of skull P3) and a recent (male craniogram) skull.
Fig. 4. Illustration of the size and shape differences between a fossil (photograph of skull P9) and a recent (male craniogram) skull.
Fig. 5. Illustration of the size and shape differences between a fossil (photograph of skull P4) and a recent (female craniogram) skull.
Fig. 6. Illustration of the size and shape differences between a fossil (photograph of skull P10) and a recent (female craniogram) skull.
Fig. 7. Plot of the size and shape differences of the neurocranium in the Předmostí fossil skulls sample in relation to the recent reference sample using z-score.
Fig. 8. Plot of the size differences of the splanchnocranium in the Předmostí fossil skulls sample in relation to the recent reference sample using z-score.
Fig. 9. Plot of the shape differences of the splanchnocranium in the Předmostí fossil skulls sample in relation to the recent reference sample using z-score.
Fig. 10. The comparison of the male fossil skulls from Předmostí and Dolní Věstonice with the recent reference sample using z-score.
Fig. 11. The cluster analysis (single linkage, Euclidean distances) of recent (n=52) and Upper Palaeolithic (n=5) male skulls samples using the following variables: Ar–N–Ss, Ar–N–Sm, Ar–N–Pg, Ss–N–Sm, N–Ss–Pg, N–Ar/ML, N–Ar/RL, ML/RL.
Fig. 12. The cluster analysis (single linkage, Euclidean distances) of recent (n=36) and Upper Palaeolithic (n=2) female skulls samples using the following variables: Ar–N–Ss, Ar–N–Sm, Ar–N–Pg, Ss–N–Sm, N–Ss–Pg, N–Ar/ML, N–Ar/RL, ML/RL.
Table 1.
Size and shape variables of male Upper Palaeolithic skulls from Předmostí, recent standard (mean, SD), and z-score (bold marked values over ±2 SD)
Table 2.
Size and shape variables of female Upper Palaeolithic skulls from Předmostí, recent standard (mean, SD), and z-score (bold marked values over ±2 SD)
Table 3.
Shape and size variables of male Upper Palaeolithic skulls from Dolní Věstonice, recent standard (mean, SD), and z-score values
Corresponding author. Tel.: +420 221951612; fax: +420 221951619.
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