A Neandertal mandible from the Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona, Spain)

• Published in: Journal of human evolution Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 56 - 70
• Main Authors: Daura, J., Sanz, M., Subirá, M.E., Quam, R., Fullola, J.M., Arsuaga, J.L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Age Determination by Teeth; Age Factors; Animals; Anthropology, Physical; Archanthropus and paleanthropus; Cova del Gegant; Environmental studies; Fauna; Fossils; History, Ancient; Hominidae - anatomy & histology; Human paleontology; Humans; Mandible; Mandible - anatomy & histology; Methodology and general studies; Neandertal; Neanthropus; Paleodontology; Prehistory and protohistory; Spain; Neanderthal; New; Middle Palaeolithic; Mousterian; Mediterranean; Iberian Peninsula; Asia; Europe; Spain; Mandible; Neandertal; Cova del Gegant; Spain; Site; Sediment; Making; Fauna; Lithic industry; Middle Pleistocene; Morphology; Evolution; Skeleton; Recording; Archives; Hominid
• ISSN: 0047-2484; 1095-8606
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.03.004

A human mandible from the site of Cova del Gegant is described here for the first time and compared with other Middle and Upper Pleistocene representatives of the genus Homo from Europe and Southwest Asia. The specimen was recovered from sediments which also yielded Mousterian stone tools and Pleistocene fauna. The preserved morphology of the mandible, particularly in the region of the mental foramen, clearly aligns it with the Neandertals, making the Cova del Gegant the only known site in Catalonia documenting diagnostic human skeletal remains in association with Middle Paleolithic stone tools. This represents an important new addition to the human fossil record from the Iberian Peninsula and joins the Bañolas mandible in documenting the course of human evolution in the northern Mediterranean region of Spain.