%0 Journal Article
%A Martínez Mendizábal, Ignacio
%A Arsuaga, Juan Luis
%A Quam, R.
%A Carretero, José Miguel
%A Gracia Téllez, Ana
%A Rodríguez García, Laura
%T Human hyoid bones from the middle Pleistocene siteof the Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)
%D 2008
%@ 0047-2484
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/51212
%X This study describes and compares two hyoid bones from the middle Pleistocene site of the Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca(Spain). The Atapuerca SH hyoids are humanlike in both their morphology and dimensions, and they clearly differ from the hyoid bones ofchimpanzees and Australopithecus afarensis. Their comparison with the Neandertal specimens Kebara 2 and SDR-034 makes it possible to beginto approach the question of temporal variation and sexual dimorphism in this bone in fossil humans. The results presented here show that thedegree of metric and anatomical variation in the fossil sample was similar in magnitude and kind to living humans. Modern hyoid morphologywas present by at least 530 kya and appears to represent a shared derived feature of the modern human and Neandertal evolutionary lineagesinherited from their last common ancestor.
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