Evidence of Neanderthals in the Balkans: The infant radius from Kozarnika Cave (Bulgaria)

Anne-Marie Tillier; Nikolay Sirakov; Aleta Guadelli; Philippe Fernandez; Svoboda Sirakova; Irena Dimitrova; Catherine Ferrier; Guillaume Guérin; Maryam Heidari; Ivailo Krumov; Jean-Claude Leblanc; Viviana Miteva; Vasil Popov; Stanimira Taneva; Jean-Luc Guadelli

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.002

Evidence of Neanderthals in the Balkans: The infant radius from Kozarnika Cave (Bulgaria)

J Hum Evol. 2017 Oct:111:54-62. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.002. Epub 2017 Jul 29.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ PACEA-UMR5199 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Bâtiment B8, CS50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France.
² National Institute of Archaeology with Museum-Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2, Saborna Street, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria.
³ National Institute of Archaeology with Museum-Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2, Saborna Street, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria; PACEA-UMR5199 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Bâtiment B18, CS50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France.
⁴ LAMPEA-UMR7269 CNRS, MMSH, 5 Rue du Château de L'Horloge, BP 647, 13094 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 2, France.
⁵ New Bulgarian University, Department of Archaeology, Building 2, Room 219, Sofia, Bulgaria.
⁶ PACEA-UMR5199 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Bâtiment B18, CS50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France.
⁷ IRAMAT-CRP2A, UMR5060 CNRS-Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Maison de L'archéologie, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607 Pessac Cedex, France.
⁸ 8, Petko Kovacha Street, Belogradchik, Bulgaria.
⁹ TRACES-UMR5608 CNRS, Université de Toulouse le Mirail, Maison de La Recherche, 5, Allées Antonio Machado, 31048 Toulouse Cedex 1, France.
¹⁰ 64, Graf Ignatiev Street, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria.
¹¹ Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research-Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Gagarin Street, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
¹² PACEA-UMR5199 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Bâtiment B18, CS50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France. Electronic address: jl.guadelli@pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr.

PMID: 28874274
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.002

Abstract

Excavations conducted by a Bulgarian-French team at Kozarnika Cave (Balkans, Bulgaria) during several seasons yielded a long Paleolithic archaeological sequence and led to the discovery of important faunal, lithic, and human samples. This paper aims to describe the unpublished radius shaft of an infant who died approximately before the sixth month postnatal that was recovered from layer 10b, which contained East Balkan Levallois Mousterian with bifacial leaf points. The layer was dated between 130 and 200 ka (large mammals biochronology) and between 128 ± 13 ka and 183 ± 14 ka (OSL), i.e. OIS6. Here we show that, given the scarcity of Middle Pleistocene infant remains in general, and Middle Paleolithic human remains from this part of Eastern Europe in particular, the study of the Kozarnika specimen is of special interest. We discuss its place in the Middle Pleistocene European hominine record and substantiate the hypothesis of early Neanderthal presence in the eastern Balkans.

Keywords: Bulgaria; Forearm; Kozarnika; Middle Pleistocene; Neanderthal infant.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Balkan Peninsula
Bulgaria
Caves
Fossils / anatomy & histology*
Humans
Infant
Neanderthals*
Radius / anatomy & histology*