%0 Journal Article
%A Martinón Torres, María
%A Bermúdez de Castro, José María
%A Gómez Robles, Aida
%A Prado Simón, Leyre
%A Arsuaga, Juan Luis
%T Morphological description and comparison of the dental remains fromAtapuerca-Sima de los Huesos site (Spain)
%D 2012
%@ 0047-2484
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44372
%X The systematic excavation of the Sima de los Huesos (SH) site in Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) hasyielded the largest hominin collection worldwide for the Middle Pleistocene. The dental sample nowconsists of more than 500 teeth that provide exceptional opportunities to define the dental morphologicalpattern of a Middle Pleistocene population as well as develop hypotheses about the origins of theNeanderthals. The dental collection has now increased to over 533 specimens (525 permanent and 8deciduous teeth), necessitating new morphological assessments. Thus, we present a detailed morphologicaldescription of the SH permanent dentition recovered up to 2007, accomplishing comparisons withEuropean Middle Pleistocene hominins, Neanderthals, and early and contemporary Homo sapiens. Wefind that SH dentitions present all the morphological traits that, either in their degree of expression,frequency, or particular combination, are usually considered as typical of Homo neanderthalensis. Thisstudy ratifies the deep roots of the Neanderthal lineage in the Middle Pleistocene of Europe. In addition,SH teeth are morphologically “more Neanderthal” than other penecontemporaneous Middle Pleistocenesamples such as Mauer or Arago, and even more derived than some classic Neanderthal samples. Thus,our study would not sustain the linearity of the accretion process hypothesized for the origins of theNeanderthals, and we suggest that other evolutionary models and scenarios should be explored for theMiddle and Upper Pleistocene of Europe. We propose that more than one hominin lineage may havecoexisted during the Middle Pleistocene in Europe.
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