Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 45 (3) 2017   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.3.126-135

Annotation:  New Stratigraphic Data on the Quaternary Sediments in the Peschanaya River Valley, Northwestern Alta A Comprehensive Study of Neolithic Stone Tools from Dwelling D on Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (1974 From Chauvet to Lascaux: 15,000 Years of Cave Art New Engravings from Abri Du Poisson (Dordogne, France) The Techniques of Modeling and Decorating Upper Paleolithic Anthropomorphic Figurines from Malta, Ea A Comparative Analysis of Paints on the Karakol Burial Slabs Petroglyphs from Northeast China: New Sites and Interpretations Paint on Deer Stones of Mongolia Old Turkic Stone Statues from Taldy-Suu, Kyrgyzstan Scythian Age Barrows with Burials on the Ground Surface in the Southern Ural Steppes: Features of th The Megaliths of Korea and Japan: An Analysis of Origins and Functions Traditional Tailoring Technology as an Ethnographic Source (the Case of Eastern Slavic Clothing in S Robusticity of Hand Phalanges: Relevance to the Origin of the Altai Neanderthals Human Teeth from Strashnaya Cave, the Altai Mountains, with Reference to the Dental Variation in Sto Prevalence of Caries Among Siberian Tatars of the Omsk Region in the 17th to Early 20th Centuries   

Robusticity of Hand Phalanges:
Relevance to the Origin of the Altai Neanderthals

M.B. Mednikova^{1, 2}, M.V. Shunkov¹, and S.V. Markin¹

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dm. Ulyanova 19, Moscow, 117036, Russia

The cross-sectional geometry of middle phalanges of hand digits 2–4 in five European and Asian Neanderthals (La Ferrassie 1, Kiik-Koba 1, Okladnikov 2 and 5, and Chagyrskaya 16-3-12) and five Cro-Magnons (Kostenki 14, Telmanovskaya TII 175 and TII 173, Sungir 1, and Abri Pataud 26227) was assessed by means of microtomography. Both t axons reveal a wide range of individual variability in their indices of inner robusticity. Both the most robust and the most gracile variants in Neanderthals were recorded in the Altai (Okladnikov and Chagyrskaya caves, respectively), which confirms previous observations about the high morphological diversity among Neanderthals in that area, and the presence of at least two morphological variants among them. In European Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens, inner phalangeal robusticity is generally higher than in Neanderthals, attaining medullary stenosis in the Kostenki 14 male. Neither sex nor age nor even mechanical stress appear to have affected robusticity. Hyper-robust variants were recognized in both Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals of supposedly hybrid origin. Geneti c studies suggest that Kostenki 14 belonged to an ancestral European metapopulation that had absorbed some Neanderthal admixture. The ancestors of the Altai Neanderthals, on the other hand, included not only Denisovans but also early anatomically modern humans before their migration to Siberia. Extreme phalangeal robusticity in Middle and Upper Paleolithic Eurasians, then, might be a legacy of early anatomically modern humans.

Keywords: Microtomography, hand phalanges, inner robusticity, tubular bones, biological age, sex, physical stress, Neanderthals, European Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens.