European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals

Abstract

A consideration of the morphological aspects of the earliest modern humans in Europe (more than approximately 33,000 B.P.) and the subsequent Gravettian human remains indicates that they possess an anatomical pattern congruent with the autapomorphic (derived) morphology of the earliest (Middle Paleolithic) African modern humans. However, they exhibit a variable suite of features that are either distinctive Neandertal traits and/or plesiomorphic (ancestral) aspects that had been lost among the African Middle Paleolithic modern humans. These features include aspects of neurocranial shape, basicranial external morphology, mandibular ramal and symphyseal form, dental morphology and size, and anteroposterior dental proportions, as well as aspects of the clavicles, scapulae, metacarpals, and appendicular proportions. The ubiquitous and variable presence of these morphological features in the European earlier modern human samples can only be parsimoniously explained as a product of modest levels of assimilation of Neandertals into early modern human populations as the latter dispersed across Europe. This interpretation is in agreement with current analyses of recent and past human molecular data.

Fig. 1.

The Oase 2 (Upper) and Muierii 1 (Lower) crania in norma lateralis left.

Fig. 2.

Bivariate plot of linear residuals from the Gravettian least-squares lines of frontal (Fr) and parietal (Pa) arc versus chord (Ch) (FrArc = 1.170 × FrCh – 1.76, r² = 0.853, n = 22; PaArc = 1.014 × PaCh + 10.27, r² = 0.871, n = 25, respectively). Samples sizes exceed plotted values because isolated frontal and parietal arcs were used to compute the regression lines. Black squares, EEMHs (Cio: Cioclovina 1; M#, Mladeč; Mui: Muierii 1; O2: Oase 2); gray squares, MPMHs and Nazlet Khater 2 (NK); open squares, Gravettians; gray triangles, Neandertals.

Fig. 3.

Posterior view of the Cioclovina 1 occipital squamous, illustrating the suprainiac fossa, nuchal torus, and absence of an external occipital protuberance, despite the clear superior nuchal line on, rather than below, the nuchal torus.

Fig. 4.

Medial views of the Oase 1 and Muierii 1 mandibular rami.

Fig. 5.

Bivariate plot of mandible ramus breadth versus superior length. Symbols are as in the legend of Fig. 2. O1, Oase 1; NK, Nazlet Khater 2.

Fig. 6.

Lingual views of the Les Rois I¹s.

Fig. 7.

Bivariate plot of summed mesial (I₂–C) versus summed postcanine (P₃–M2) dental crown breadths. Symbols as in the legend to Fig. 2. M54, Mladeč 54; NK, Nazlet Khater 2; AC, Arene Candide 1; DV, Dolní V̆estonice 13.