The human cranial remains from Gough's Cave (Somerset, England)

Abstract

This study describes human cranial and mandibular remains from Gough's Cave. Age assessments for individual elements are made on the basis of modern dental development standards, dental wear and comparison with a recent skeletal sample of known-age individuals. Although the number of mature adults may have been underestimated, a minimum of nine individuals are represented – one child, one adolescent and one older adult are later Holocene in age, there is one young adult from the Mesolithic, and one child, two adolescents, one young/mid adult and one older adult are Creswellian in age. Metrical analysis of the most complete crania is undertaken using other European Mesolithic and Late Upper Palaeolithic crania for comparison. The metrical analysis indicates that both Gough's Cave 1 and GC87 (190) are male. The results of the principal components analysis support stratigraphic and dating evidence that the Gough's Cave 1 cranium is derived from a more recent population than GC87 (190).