1. Apidima 1 and Apidima 2: Two anteneandertal skulls in the Peloponnese, Greece
- Author
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Theodoros Pitsios, Henry de Lumley, Natassa Protopapa, Gaspard Guipert, Marie-Antoinette de Lumley, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine (IPH), Fondation I.P.H-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Antenne de Préhistoire de l'IPH, Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille 3-Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement (CEREGE), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique (HNHP), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,Neanderthal ,[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory ,01 natural sciences ,History and Philosophy of Science ,Cave ,Peninsula ,Stage (stratigraphy) ,biology.animal ,Breccia ,medicine ,0601 history and archaeology ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Crania ,060102 archaeology ,biology ,06 humanities and the arts ,biology.organism_classification ,Archaeology ,Skull ,Geography ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Anthropology ,Homo erectus - Abstract
Work in Apidima A Cave began in 1976 after the discovery of a portion of a human skull by Andreas Andreikos in a cave breccia, identified in 1978 by Theodoros Pitsios, and named Apidima 1. The cave is located below the plateau of Aeropolis, in the Mani Peninsula (Maina or Maina), in the Peloponnese, in the south of Greece. The first work in the cave brought to light a second skull, Apidima 2. These two skulls were lying vertically against the cave wall, on the same sedimentary layer, 15 cm away from each other, side by side and facing in opposite directions. The Apidima 1 occipital seems to belong to a male individual whereas the Apidima 2 face appears to be female. They were carefully extracted from the breccia at the initiative of Theodoros Pitsios and were painstakingly disengaged in the laboratory between 1979 and 2012. The Apidima 1 skull is a portion of the back of the skull and the better preserved Apidima 2 consists of the face and the frontoparietal zones. These remains are in a similar state of fossilisation and were dated by the U/Th method between 220 and 130 ka, with an average age of about 170 ka. The anatomical study shows that they can be attributed to the same group of evolved European Homo erectus hominins, with some early Neanderthal traits, similar to the skulls of la Sima de los Huesos, Swanscombe, Biache St Vaast and Lazaret, and that they can be differentiated from classic Neanderthals. The frontoparietal curve and low biparietal breadth of the crania can be compared to early forms, such as Arago 21-47, Ceprano, Petralona, but several traits announce a Neanderthal morphology, such as, for example, a suprainiac fossa observable on Apidima 1. The deposition of these two skulls in Apidima Cave A, laid out side by side, with no other human remains, lithic artefacts or faunal remains, evokes a death-related anthropogenic ritual. Beside these skulls, three pebbles gathered on the beach below the cave can be considered as an intentional deposit related to the symbolic preoccupations of these Anteneandertals. During the major regression of isotopic stage 6, the beach was at a much lower level than the present-day beach.
- Published
- 2020
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