Journal of Archaeological Science (2000) 27, 1115–1132 doi:10.1006/jasc.1999.0501, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on Human Remains from the Moravian Gravettian: Morphology and Taphonomy of Isolated Elements from the Dolnı ´ Ve ˇstonice II Site Erik Trinkaus* Department of Anthropology, Campus Box 1114, Washington University, St Louis MO 63130, U.S.A. and U.M.R. 5809 du C.N.R.S., Laboratoire d’Anthropologie, Universite ´ de Bordeaux I, 33405 Talence, France Jir ˇı ´ Svoboda Odde ˇlenı ´ Paleolitu a Paleoetnologie, Archeologicky ´u ´stav AV C { R, 692 01 Dolnı ´ Ve ˇstonice, Czech Republic Dixie L. West Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS 66045, U.S.A. Vladimı ´r Sla ´dek Archeologicky ´u ´stav AV C { R, Kra ´lovopolska ´ 147, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic and Laboratoire d’Anthropologie, Universite ´ de Bordeaux I, 33405 Talence, France Simon W. Hillson Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, U.K. Eva Drozdova ´ Katedra Antropologie, Pr ˇı ´rodove ˇdecka ´ Fakulta, Masarykova ´ Univerzita, Vinar ˇska ´ 5, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic Miriam Fis ˇa ´kova ´ U u stav Geologie a Paleontologie, Pr ˇı ´rodove ˇdecka ´ fakulta, Univerzita Karlova, Albertov 6, 128 43 Praha 2, Czech Republic (Received 16 July 1999, revised manuscript accepted 20 September 1999) The excavation and palaeoanthropological analysis of the early Upper Palaeolithic site of Dolnı ´ Ve ˇstonice II has yielded a series of incomplete and isolated human remains, comprising cranial vaults, teeth (including a series from an infant), ribs, arm bones, hand phalanges, leg bones, tarsals, metatarsals and pedal phalanges. Morphologically and morphometrically the elements are similar to those from buried individuals at Dolnı ´ Ve ˇstonice I and II and Pavlov I, as well as to other European early Upper Palaeolithic human remains. They differ principally in the high percentage of cortical areas of the distal humerus and femur. The Dolnı ´ Ve ˇstonice 36 infant’s teeth may well derive from an undisturbed burial with in situ bone destruction. Geological processes are unlikely to have produced the taphonomic patterns observed, and the preservation and damage patterns of the elements (other than Dolnı ´ Ve ˇstonice 36) suggest that the original bodies were processed by some combination of scavenging agents. Moreover, the original number of burials at Dolnı ´ Ve ˇstonice II may have been greater than the four currently known.  2000 Academic Press Keywords: UPPER PALAEOLITHIC, HUMAN PALAEONTOLOGY, TAPHONOMY. *For correspondence. Tel and Fax: 1-314-935-5207; E-mail: trinkaus@artsci.wustl.edu 1115 0305–4403/00/121115+18 $35.00/0  2000 Academic Press