title: Neonatal postcrania from Mezmaiskaya, Russia, and Le Moustier, France, and the development of Neandertal body form.
abstract: Neandertal and modern human adults differ in skeletal features of the cranium and postcranium, and it is clear that many of the cranial differences-although not all of them-are already present at the time of birth. We know less, however, about the developmental origins of the postcranial differences. Here, we address this deficiency with morphometric analyses of the postcrania of the two most complete Neandertal neonates-Mezmaiskaya 1 (from Russia) and Le Moustier 2 (from France)-and a recent human sample. We find that neonatal Neandertals already appear to possess the wide body, long pubis, and robust long bones of adult Neandertals. Taken together, current evidence indicates that skeletal differences between Neandertals and modern humans are largely established by the time of birth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; tdweaver@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, 33615 Pessac, France; Laboratoire d'Anthropologie biologique Paul Broca, École Pratique des Hautes Études, UMR 5199 PACEA, 33615 Pessac, France;
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Coqueugniot
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Prehistory, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia.
authors.forename: Liubov V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Golovanova
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Prehistory, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia.
authors.forename: Vladimir B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Doronichev
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, 33615 Pessac, France;
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Maureille
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany;
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hublin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000886:Anthropometry; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059125:Neanderthals / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012426:Russia
keywords: Homo neanderthalensis; body proportions; climatic adaptation; infracranial; ontogeny