Reassessment of the cranial and dental data from the Upper Paleolithic site of Kostenki 15

Abstract

In the article we present new results of the study of the child skull found in a burial at the Upper Paleolithic site of Kostenki 15 (Gorodtsov site). While the CT analysis of the earlier reconstructed skull revealed high level of destruction of the morphologically important landmarks which prevents from using the conventional cranial metric characteristics of the individual in population studies, the analysis of its dental morphology was shown to be much more informative. Our study revealed that the upper incisors and lower molars of the sample display a specific complex of non-metric traits which combine European (4-cusped first molars) traits with such Asian characteristics as shovel-shaped upper lateral incisors, odontoglyphic patterns on the first lower molars, and morphology of the second lower deciduous molars. The results of the statistical analysis of the dental metrics does not match with the hypothesis on close biological affinities of the Kostenki 15 child with Předmostí and Dolní Věstonice populations put forward by Yakimov but again revealed intermediate European-Asian position of the Kostenki 15 sample. Several European samples including those from the Pavlov, Cap Blanc and Grotte de la Balauzière sites and one Siberian sample from the Malta settlement demonstrate the highest level of similarity with the Kostenki 15. Apparently, it can be argued that the results of our study suggest long distance migrations in Eurasia as early as the Upper Paleolithic.