Re-examination of the Subalyuk Neanderthal remains uncovers signs of probable TB infection (Subalyuk Cave, Hungary).

In 1932, skeletal remains of two Neanderthal individuals, a young adult female and a 3-4-year-old child, were discovered in Subalyuk Cave in Northern Hungary [1,2]. Results of the anthropological examination were published some years after this important discovery. Methodological progress encouraged re-examination of the material during the last few years.

First direct dating of the Late Neanderthal remains from Subalyuk Cave in Northern Hungary.

The Subalyuk hominin remains were uncovered in 1932 in a cave of the same name in the Bükk Mountains, near the village of Cserépfalu in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Northern Hungary. The remains represent two individuals, an adult and a young child who have been described in a few publications since their discovery, providing substantial anthropological data and general assessments of their Neanderthal affiliation. They were associated with Late Mousterian industry.

Evidence of Neanderthals in the Balkans: The infant radius from Kozarnika Cave (Bulgaria).

Excavations conducted by a Bulgarian-French team at Kozarnika Cave (Balkans, Bulgaria) during several seasons yielded a long Paleolithic archaeological sequence and led to the discovery of important faunal, lithic, and human samples. This paper aims to describe the unpublished radius shaft of an infant who died approximately before the sixth month postnatal that was recovered from layer 10b, which contained East Balkan Levallois Mousterian with bifacial leaf points. The layer was dated between 130 and 200 ka (large mammals biochronology) and between 128 ± 13 ka and 183 ± 14 ka (OSL), i.

Dental wear patterns in early modern humans from Skhul and Qafzeh: A response to Luca Fiorenza and Ottmar Kullmer.

It is common knowledge, that in archaic populations teeth could have been used as tools, such behavior can be studied by evaluating occlusal attrition patterns. Fiorenza and Kullmer suggested a digital approach to distinguish between masticatory and non-masticatory wear facets in archaic and modern populations. In their last response to our letter (Fiorenza and Kullmer, 2015), they used comparative modern samples to demonstrate that described para-facets in Skhul and Qafzeh individuals could not have been produced by dental occlusal anomalies and also since they claimed that more than 50% of the sample analyzed in their study are characterized by para-facets, it is highly unlikely to be the result of dental pathologies.

Ancient Down syndrome: An osteological case from Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, northeastern France, from the 5-6th century AD.

The pathological skull of a 5-7 year old child from Saint-Jean-des-Vignes (Saône-et-Loire, north-eastern France) dated to the 5-6th century AD is described. Morphological and radiographic features, metrical data and Computed Tomography (CT) scans are used to study the osteological abnormalities in comparison with normal skulls of individuals of similar age and geographic origin. The combination of features is consistent with the diagnosis of Down syndrome (e.

Earliest cranio-encephalic trauma from the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic: 3D reappraisal of the Qafzeh 11 skull, consequences of pediatric brain damage on individual life condition and social care.

The Qafzeh site (Lower Galilee, Israel) has yielded the largest Levantine hominin collection from Middle Palaeolithic layers which were dated to circa 90-100 kyrs BP or to marine isotope stage 5b-c. Within the hominin sample, Qafzeh 11, circa 12-13 yrs old at death, presents a skull lesion previously attributed to a healed trauma. Three dimensional imaging methods allowed us to better explore this lesion which appeared as being a frontal bone depressed fracture, associated with brain damage.

Reconstructing cultural behavior from dental wear studies: is para-facets analysis approach scientifically valid?

It is common knowledge, that in archaic populations teeth were used as tools, this behavior can be studied by evaluating attrition patterns. Parafacets were defined as nonmasticatory wear areas that have no antagonist matching wear facets. The presence of the parafacets led to far-reaching conclusions regarding cultural interactions between Near Eastern Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans.