Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
1) Institute of archaeology, RAS, Moscow; 2) Peter the Great Museum of Anthropolgy and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS, Saint Petersburg
Mednikova Maria, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1918-2161; e-mail: medma_pa@mail.ru; Moiseyev Vyacheslav., ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1748-2686; e-mail: vmoiseyev@mail.ru; Khartanovich Valeri, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5533-0686; e-mail: vkhartan@kunstkamera.ru.
In a pilot study tubular bones of hands of representatives of the Upper Palaeolithic Age from sites Kostenki 14 (or Markina Gora) and Kostenki 8 (or Telmanovskaya site) have been described. Traditional metric methods have been used. The inner structure has been tested by microfocus X-ray and by the microCT. The presence of indicators of physiological stress (Harris lines) has been recorded. Cross-sectional geometry of tubular bones has been considered. Right and left hands of Kostenki 14 (male, young adult) demonstrate the good condition. The finds from Kostenki 8 are presented by two phalanges, one of them is partly destroyed. We have identified them as the middle phalanges of the right 4th ray and, probably, of the 3rd ray. Earlier genetic study has discovered K14 origin from a meta-population, ancestral for many modern peoples as well for the Upper Palaeolithic humans. His DNA contains longer tracts of Neanderthal DNA than present Europeans. The calculated approximate hybridization time is around 54 thousands BP. The macromorphological examination of K14 hand indicates the external gracility, uncommon for this age. The middle phalanges from the Kostenki 8 site are larger and reflect individual or long-term variability. Manual elements K14 externally show the typically “anatomically modern” built. K14 is at the centre of variability of later European CroMagnons, supporting data of genetic expertise. By microfocus X-ray and by the microtomography atypical patterns of the inner structure have been discovered. They are presented in multiple diaphyseal medullary stenosis of all distal, middle and left proximal phalanges. Differential diagnostics includes the hereditary disorder as the most possible cause, like Caffey-Kenny syndrome. Low stature of K14 supports this hypothesis. Phalanges from Kostenki 8 demonstrate the absence of stenosis, although they have thick walls. Extreme inner robusticity of phalanges K14 has the only analogy, but in the representative of another taxonomical group – in Altai Neanderthal from Denisova Cave [Mednikova, 2012], who lived 50-60 ka. Future radiological examination of other skeletal parts of K14 will detect the cause of this systemic bone condition.
Upper Palaeolithic, hand morphology, Markina Gora (Kostenki 14), Telmanovskaya site (Kostenki 8), microfocus X-ray, microtomography, cross-sectional geometry, inner robusticity of tubular bones, physiological and biomechanical stress, palaeopathology
Цит.: Mednikova M.B., Moiseyev V., Khartanovich V.I. Structure of manual tubular bones of inhabitants of the Upper Palaeolithic sites Kostenki 14 and 8 (evolutionary and bioarchaeological aspects) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2016; 1/2016; с. 20-34
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