Amud 7, a Neandertal infant from Amud Cave, Israel Ella Been 1,2 and Yoel Rak 1 1 Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel 2 Physical Therapy Department, Zefat Academic College, Safed, Israel. Fig 2. The skeleton of Amud 7 Introduction During the renewed excavation (1991-1992) at the Amud cave in northern Galilee, Israel, a partial skeleton of an infant was found. The skeleton, Amud 7, is that of a young Neandertal whose estimated age is 10 months and has been dated at about 45,000Y BP. The base of the Amud 7 skull was published shortly after its discovery (Rak et al. 1994). The aim of this study is to describe all the skeletal remains of Amud 7, to determine whether scattered remains assigned to other individuals might actually belong to Amud 7, and to compare the hitherto undescribed postcranial morphology of Amud 7 to that of other Neandertal and modern human infants Fig 1: Amud 7 in situ Inventory The skeleton of Amud 7 consists of remains representing the cranium (the calvarium and the mandible) and postcranial elements: from the upper limbs, remains of the clavicle, scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, metacarpal bone, and phalanx; from the spine, fragments of all seven cervical vertebrae, eight thoracic vertebrae, three lumbar vertebrae, and the first to twelfth ribs; and from the lower limbs, fragments of the ilium, tibia, metatarsal bones and phalanx (Table 1, Figure 2). An isolated petrous bone was found disassociated from Amud 7 by Suzuki & Takai (1970) in the early 60s. Only a cast is available to us today; its shape and size suggest that it is the second petrous bone of Amud 7 (Figure 3). Another disassociated element is a distal fragment of a fibula discovered during the renewed excavation in the early 90s. Its shape and size also suggest that it might belong to the skeleton of Amud 7. Table 1. Inventory of Amud 7 skeleton Bone Description Skull Occipital bone Left petrous Sella turcica Incus Teeth fragments of Cranial bones Nearly complete, reconstructed by Yoel Rak Mandible Mandible Complete left side , medial half of the right side Vertebral spine Cervical spine: C1 C2 C3 C3,4 C4 C5 C6 C7 Thoracic spine: T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 / T7 T7/8 T11/12 5 unidentified fragments Lumbar spine: • Lateral mass left and right • Body, right arch (fragment) • Body • Fused vertebral arch C3 and C4 (right and left) • Body • Left vertebral arch • Body, left arch, fragment of the right arch • Body, right arch • Left arch, right arch • Body, left arch • Body, left arch • Right arch • Fragments of left and right vertebral arches • Body, 2 right vertebral arches, one left vertebral arch • Right vertebral arches • Right vertebral arches •3 right vertebral arches (pedicle + lamina) Thorax Ribs • Fragments of first, second and third ribs on the right side. Fragments of at least 3 more ribs on the right side. • Fragments of first and second ribs on the left side. Fragments of at least 4 more ribs on the left side. Upper limb Clavicle Scapula Humerus Radius Ulna Hand Complete right clavicle, lateral 2/3 of left clavicle + two small fragments Nearly complete scapula, reconstructed by Yoel Rak Nearly complete Humerus Distal half of radius Distal half of Ulna Thumb: first metacarpus, proximal and distal phalanx Fingers 2-5: one metacarpal bone, five proximal phalanx, four middle phalanx, and two distal phalanx Lower limb Pelvis Right tibia foot Nearly complete left Ilium Cranial half of the tibia Two metatarsal bones, and seven phalanx Morphological affinities Given the archaeology and systematics of hominin finds in the Middle East, a Mousterian cultural context is of little assistance in determining their taxonomic status. The skeleton of the Amud 7 infant was attributed to Homo neanderthalensis by Rak et al. (1994) on the basis of three features: the absence of a mental protuberance (chin) on the mandible; the oval shape of the foramen magnum; and the presence of the medial pterygoid tubercle on the mandibular ramus. We have explored more morphological affinities of Amud 7 (Table 2). Our examination and measurements indicate that the skeleton of Amud 7 shows many features that are usually attributed to young and adult Neandertals. The most notable features are the presence of a pitted suprainiac fossa and a large axilloglenoid angle. These features are autapomorphic, present in Neandertals (Carretero et al., 1997; Balzeau & Rougier, 2010). To the best of our knowledge, Amud 7 is the youngest Neandertal (10 months old) to exhibit a suprainiac fossa. Until now, this fossa has been detected only in Neanderthal specimens more then two years old (Balzeau & Rougier, 2010). The presence of these features at such a young age demonstrates the magnitude of morphological differences between H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens. Table 2. Morphological affinities of Amud 7 Structure Amud 7 H. sapiens infant H. sapiens adult Neandertal infant Neandertal adult Suprainiac fossa Found Not found Not found Found; previously known only from age 2Y Found Clavicle robustness Robust Slender Slender to robust Robust Robust Clavicle Anteroposterior curvature Strong Weak Weak Strong Weak to strong Scapula, axilloglenoid angle 156 145 133 154 141 ± 5 Scapula, glenoid shape Narrow More rounded More rounded Narrow to rounded Narrow Orientation of the Spine of scapula Superior dorsal Dorsal Dorsal Not available Superior dorsal Crista dorsoaxillary (sulcus marginalis) Not developed Not developed Not developed Not developed Developed Humeral curvature (in a lateral view) Strong curve Weak curve Weak curve Not available Strong Curve Humerus, mid-shaft cross section Rounded shape Triangular shape Triangular shape Not available Not available Humeral torsion angle (around the long axis of humerus) Low torsion angle High torsion angle High torsion angle Not available Low torsion angle First rib, curvature Straight shaft Curved shaft Curved shaft Not available Straight to curved shaft Acknowledgements: Work at the Amud cave has been supported by the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the Wenner–Gren Foundation , The Institute of Human Origins and the Institute of Archaeology , Hebrew University. We wish to thank all of the volunteers and students who participated in the field season. Special thanks to Mr. Alon Barash for the pictures. Bibliography: • Balzeau A, Rougier H. 2010. Is the suprainiac fossa a Neandertal autapomorphy? A complementary external and internal investigation. J Hum Evol, 58:1-22. • Carretero MC, Arsuaga JL, Lorenzo C. 1997. Clavicles, scapulae and humeri from the Sima de los Huesos site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). J Hum Evol, 33:357-408. • Rak Y, Kimbel WH, Hovers E. 1994. A Neandertal infant from Amud cave, Israel. J Hum Evol, 26:313-324. • Suzuki H, Takai F. 1970. The Amud Man and his Cave Site. University of Tokyo Press: Tokyo. Fig 3. The isolated petrous bone (white), with the occipital bone and the petrous of Amud 7 (brown).