Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600 Pessac, France.
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, Calle Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
J Hum Evol. 2024 Nov;196:103599. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103599. Epub 2024 Oct 2.
Grotte Mandrin is located in the middle Rhône River Valley, in Mediterranean France, and has yielded 11 Pleistocene archeological and paleoanthropological layers (ranging from the oldest layer J to the youngest layer B) dating from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 to MIS 3. We report here the nearly complete dentition of an adult Neanderthal individual, nicknamed 'Thorin,' associated to the last phase of the Post-Neronian II, in layer B2 (∼44.50-42.25 ka). A previous paleogenetic analysis revealed that Thorin is a male individual and that he shows a deep genetic divergence with other penecontemporaneous Neanderthals from western Europe that possibly occurred ∼105 ka. The 31 teeth of Thorin (including two distomolars) are described and analyzed using microcomputed tomography imaging and are compared with other Neanderthals and modern humans. Based on direct observation and measurements on the fossil remains, and using microtomographic imaging, tooth wear, nonmetric characters, crown dimensions, and dental tissue proportions were investigated, and the shape of the enamel-dentine junction of the M, M, and M was analyzed by geometric morphometrics. Our results indicate that Thorin's teeth show dental characteristics typical of MIS 5-3 Neanderthals. It is also the first time that the presence of two distomolars is reported in a Neanderthal individual, a trait that is rare among modern human populations. Combined with the genetic peculiarities of this individual, the results of the present study imply either a process of morphological convergence among the latest Neanderthal groups or an underestimation of the genetic variability of recent Neanderthal groups.
格里特·曼丁位于法国地中海地区的罗纳河中上游流域，已经出土了 11 个更新世考古和古人类学层位（从最古老的 J 层到最年轻的 B 层），可追溯到海洋同位素阶段 5 到 3。我们在这里报告了一个成年尼安德特人个体的近乎完整的牙齿，绰号为“索林”，与后尼禄二世的最后阶段有关，位于 B2 层（约 44.50-42.25 千年前）。之前的古遗传学分析表明，索林是一个男性个体，他与其他同时期的西欧尼安德特人存在深度的遗传分歧，这种分歧可能发生在约 105 千年前。索林的 31 颗牙齿（包括两颗双尖牙）被描述和分析，使用了微计算机断层扫描成像，并与其他尼安德特人和现代人进行了比较。基于对化石遗骸的直接观察和测量，以及使用微断层扫描成像，研究了牙齿磨损、非度量特征、冠部尺寸和牙组织比例，并通过几何形态测量学分析了 M、M 和 M 的釉质-牙本质交界处的形状。我们的研究结果表明，索林的牙齿具有 MIS 5-3 尼安德特人的典型牙齿特征。这也是首次在尼安德特人中报告存在两颗双尖牙，这一特征在现代人类中很少见。结合该个体的遗传特殊性，本研究的结果表明，要么是最晚的尼安德特人群体之间存在形态趋同的过程，要么是对最近的尼安德特人群体的遗传变异性存在低估。
