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. 2018 Sep 26;4(9):eaat2369.
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat2369. eCollection 2018 Sep.

Evidence for precision grasping in Neandertal daily activities

Fotios Alexandros Karakostis  1 , Gerhard Hotz  2   3 , Vangelis Tourloukis  1   4 , Katerina Harvati  1   4
Affiliations

Evidence for precision grasping in Neandertal daily activities

Fotios Alexandros Karakostis et al. Sci Adv. .

Abstract

Neandertal manual activities, as previously reconstructed from their robust hand skeletons, are thought to involve systematic power grasping rather than precise hand movements. However, this interpretation is at odds with increasing archeological evidence for sophisticated cultural behavior. We reevaluate the manipulative behaviors of Neandertals and early modern humans using a historical reference sample with extensive genealogical and lifelong occupational documentation, in combination with a new and precise three-dimensional multivariate analysis of hand muscle attachments. Results show that Neandertal muscle marking patterns overlap exclusively with documented lifelong precision workers, reflecting systematic precision grasping consistent with the use of their associated cultural remains. Our findings challenge the established interpretation of Neandertal behavior and establish a solid link between biological and cultural remains in the fossil record.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. PCA (nine entheses) without a priori group categorization.
(A) PC1 versus PC2; (B) PC2 and PC3. The side figures in each plot demonstrate muscle entheses with high factor loadings (see Statistical analysis in Materials and Methods), describing the two opposite entheseal patterns of PC1 (A) and the entheseal pattern (that is, high values in both PC2 and PC3) separating Neandertals from all modern humans (B). FPL, flexor pollicis longus; ADM, abductor digiti minimi; FDM, flexor digiti minimi; ECU, extensor carpi ulnaris; EPB, extensor pollicis brevis; OP, opponens pollicis; FBP, flexor pollicis brevis; ABP, abductor pollicis; ADP, adductor pollicis; DI1, first dorsal interosseus.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. PCA (three thumb entheses) without a priori group categorization, PC1 versus PC2.
The bottom figures describe the muscle entheses with high factor loadings on PC1 (see Statistical analysis in Materials and Methods).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Two examples of precision grasping involving mainly the thumb and the index finger during the production and use of lithic flakes.
Here, these hand movements are represented by high values on PC1 of the PCA using nine entheses (Fig. 1A).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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