- Project title
- Geometric morphometric and biomechanical study of Neandertal radii
- Description of the project
- Recently, new human fossil remains have been found at the Sima I of the Polvorín cave (Karrantza, Northern Iberian Peninsula). These human remains were found in a purely paleontological assemblage that mainly consists of cave bears and spotted hyenas. The sedimentary history of the gallery is very complex, with different phases of infilling and erosion, with perched sediment remnants at different heights.
The human fossil collection recovered at the site comprises several cranial and postcranial remains that in general are consistent with the morphology present in “classic” Neandertals. However, among the human remains, a partial right radius that preserves the proximal epiphysis and most of the shaft displays features that are primitive and resemble those observed in some Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene hominins.
According to our preliminary evaluation, the human remains found in Polvorín might belong to a single adult gracile individual (probably female), that possessed some Neandertal morphological features.
Works done by the platform AST-RX