Main morphological characteristics and sexual dimorphism of hominin adult femora from the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)

In this study, we compiled previously published basic anatomical and biometric characteristics of SH adult femora, emphasizing the most relevant features compared to other recent and fossil hominins. The SH femora exhibited a primitive morphological pattern common to all non-Homo sapiens femora, as well as most of the Neandertal traits. Therefore, the complete Upper Pleistocene Neandertal pattern was well-established in Middle Pleistocene ancestors long before the proper Neandertals appeared. Additionally, we highlight that the SH and Neandertal femora share some morphological traits and proportions with modern humans that hold sexual significance in our species, regardless of size. Keeping this in mind, we discussed the sex determination of the complete SH specimens and re-evaluated sex allocation in two of them.PMID:37794824 | DOI:10.1002/ar.25331

Source: Anatomical Record - October 5, 2023 Category: Anatomy Authors: Jos é-Miguel Carretero Laura Rodr íguez Rebeca Garc ía-González Juan-Luis Arsuaga Source Type: research