Autori: Andrei Soficaru, Catalin Petrea, Adrian Dobos¸, and Erik Trinkaus

Editorial: Current Anthropology, 48, p.611-619, 2007.

Rezumat:

Reanalysis and direct dating of an early modern human neurocranium
from the Pes¸tera Cioclovina Uscata¢ (Cioclovina
1), in combination with excavation and reanalysis of the remaining
deposits in the cave, establish Cioclovina 1 as one
of a small number of European early modern humans securely
dated prior to ca. 28,000 14C BP (ca. 32,500 cal BP). The
original stratigraphic context and archeological association of
Cioclovina 1 are unknown (and probably unknowable), but
sedimentological analysis and dating of cave bear remains
suggests substantial Late Pleistocene geological reworking of
deposits within the cave, which probably altered its context
prior to the mining operations which unearthed the neurocranium.
The otherwise excellent (if incomplete) preservation
of Cioclovina 1 raises questions as to what, if any, human
behaviors resulted in its burial within the Pes¸tera Cioclovina
Uscata¢. Lesions are limited to the minor exocranial traumatic
changes common among Late Pleistocene humans. Morphologically,
Cioclovina 1 presents a suite of distinctive, derived
modern human neurocranial features, associated with aspects
of the superior nuchal morphology best known for European
Neandertals, a mosaic pattern increasingly in evidence among
early modern humans in Europe.

Cuvinte cheie: Current, Anthropology

URL: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/519915