Dolní V stonice 15: Pathology and Persistence in the Pavlovian

Several lines of archaeological and human palaeontological data from the Moravian earlier Gravettian (or Pavlovian) indicate a high level of mobility among these earlier Upper Palaeolithic human populations. The congenitally abnormal young adult Dolní V stonice 15 human remains support this pattern. Dolní V stonice 15 suffered serious developmental abnormalities, most likely as a result of the X-linked dominant form of chondrodysplasia calcificans punctata, that included pronounced infantile and minor later childhood developmental defects of dental enamel (enamel hypoplasia), asymmetrical curvature and angular deformities of the proximal femora, asymmetrical shortening of the femora, a diaphyseal deformity of the distal right humerus, a probable healed left ulnar fracture with associated deformity of the radial diaphysis, elevated length asymmetries of the forearms, and an unusual pattern of anomalies of tooth position and number. These are combined with trivial intervertebral articular degenerations, plus localized pronounced osteoarthritis of the right glenohumeral joint and right second and fifth ray hand proximal interphalangeal joints. Yet, there is little asymmetry of the lower limbs distal of the mid-femora, and both diaphyseal hypertrophy of the humeri, femora and tibiae and relative arm and leg muscle attachment size and moment arms indicate a level of skeletal hypertrophy average to high for an earlier Upper Palaeolithic human. The severe upper limb osteoarthritis may indicate a pattern of pronounced and repetitive carrying or dragging of heavy loads. These data indicate the ability of the population to keep a severely affected individual alive through development, yet they also emphasize the necessity for all individuals to participate actively in the elevated mobility and overall activity levels of these earlier Upper Palaeolithic human populations.     

Human Remains from the Moravian Gravettian: Morphology and Taphonomy of Isolated Elements from the Dolní V stonice II Site

The excavation and palaeoanthropological analysis of the early Upper Palaeolithic site of Dolní V stonice 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 Dolní V stonice 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 Dolní V stonice 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 Dolní V stonice 36) suggest that the original bodies were processed by some combination of scavenging agents. Moreover, the original number of burials at Dolní V stonice II may have been greater than the four currently known.