RT Journal Article
T1 Human talus bones from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain
A1 Pablos, Adrián
A1 Martínez Mendizábal, Ignacio
A1 Lorenzo Merino, Carlos
A1 Gracia Téllez, Ana
A1 Sala Burgos, Nohemi
A1 Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Luis
AB 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.
PB Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam
SN 0047-2484
YR 2013
FD 2013-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/34341
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/34341
LA eng
NO Unión Europea. FP7
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO Ministerio de Educación
NO Fundación Ancestros
NO Junta de Castilla y León
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025