The Late Upper Paleolithic skeleton Villabruna 1 (Italy): a source of data on biology and behavior of a 14,000 year-old hunter.

The Late Upper Paleolithic burial Villabruna 1 (Val Cismon, Belluno, Italy), directly dated to about 14,000 years ago (calibrated chronology), includes a well preserved skeleton accompanied by grave goods and covered with painted stones. The skeleton belongs to an adult male, about twenty-five years old, characterized by a relatively tall stature for the time period, short trunk and more linear body proportions than its contemporaries, similar to those of recent North-African populations. Multivariate statistical analysis of craniofacial characteristics place Villabruna 1 close to Le Bichon 1, a geographically and chronologically nearby specimen, suggesting genetic affinity among the last hunter and gatherers from the alpine region.

[Vectorial description of the horizontal craniogram].

After the polynomial approximation we used Bezier's algorithm to obtain a vectorial description and to compare the horizontal craniogram morphology of hominid skulls. A minimum number of determinant points chosen on the original curves constitutes the vertices of a closed polygonal. By these points Bezier's interpolation gives new curves very similar to the polynomial curves obtained by the original ones.