Restes post-craniens du niveau TD6 du site en grotte du Pléistocène inférieur de Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Espagne

Abstract

Human Postcranial Bones from the Gran Dolina Site, Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). The human postcranial bones recovered from the Gran Dolina site, in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) are compared. All these fossils were excavated at the level called TD6 between 1994 and 1995 and have been dated in excess of 780,000 years before present. These remains have been attributed to a new Homo species named Homo antecessor. Four is the minimum number of individuals represented by the postcranial remains recovered up to now. All elements are measured and compared with other fossil homonids and modern humans in order to establish, as much as possible, what postcranial morphology characterised this new species of our genus. The Homo antecessor postcrania, as a whole, display a set of morphological traits that are more similar to modern humans than to the Middle and Upper Pleistocene European hominids. Our results do not contradict the previous phylogenetic analysis, i.e., that H. antecessor represents the last common ancestor for H. sapiens (modern humans) and H. neandertalensis (Neandertals).