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On one Neandertal occipital of Les Pradelles (Marillac-le-Franc, Charente, France) : A preliminary morphometric study

Célimène MUSSINI, Alan MANN, Maria Dolores GARRALDA & Bruno MAUREILLE

en Comptes Rendus Palevol 10 (7) - Pages 589-595

Published on 31 October 2011

In 2001 and 2003, several occipital fragments of a single mature skull were unearthed on the site of les Pradelles (Marillac-le-Franc, Charente). The archaeological context of the deposit allowed us to provisionally assign the remains to the Neandertal taxon. A morphometric study of this piece was conducted in order to confirm its placement in this lineage. Some features observed on this specimen and commonly described among Neandertals (e.g. the presence of a suprainiac fossa) as well as dimensional data locate the les Pradelles occipital within the morphological variability of Neandertals.


Keywords:

Neanderthal, Middle Palaeolithic, Quina type Mousterian, Occipital, Morphometry

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