Human talus bones from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca,Burgos, Spain) |
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Authors: | Adriá n Pablos,Ignacio Martí nez,Carlos Lorenzo,Ana Gracia,Nohemi Sala,Juan Luis Arsuaga |
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Affiliation: | 1. Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, c/Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain;2. Departamento de Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avenida Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain;3. Área de Paleontología, Departamento de Geografía y Geología, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain;4. Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain;5. IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Pça Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona, Spain |
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Abstract: | Here we present and describe comparatively 25 talus bones from the Middle Pleistocene site of the Sima de los Huesos (SH) (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). These tali belong to 14 individuals (11 adult and three immature). Although variation among Middle and Late Pleistocene tali tends to be subtle, this study has identified unique morphological characteristics of the SH tali. They are vertically shorter than those of Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens, and show a shorter head and a broader lateral malleolar facet than all of the samples. Moreover, a few shared characters with Neanderthals are consistent with the hypothesis that the SH population and Neanderthals are sister groups. These shared characters are a broad lateral malleolar facet, a trochlear height intermediate between modern humans and Late Pleistocene H. sapiens, and a short middle calcaneal facet. It has been possible to propose sex assignment for the SH tali based on their size. Stature estimates based on these fossils give a mean stature of 174.4 cm for males and 161.9 cm for females, similar to that obtained based on the long bones from this same site. |
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Keywords: | Homo heidelbergensis Homo neanderthalensis Foot Ankle Stature |
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