Early Modern Humans at the Moravian Gate : The Mladec Caves and Their Remains

The Upper Paleolithic fossils of the Mladec caves, South Moravia, excavated at the end of the 19th century, hold a key position in the current discussion on modern human emergence within Europe and the fate of the Neanderthals. Although undoubtedly early modern humans - recently radio carbon dated to 31.000 years BP - their morphological variability and the presence of archaic features are indicative to some degree of regional Neanderthal ancestry. The beautifully illustrated monograph addresses - for the first time - the complete assemblage of the finds, including the human cranial, post cranial, teeth and jaw fragments of several individuals (most of them stored at the Natural History Museum Vienna) as well as the faunal remains and the archaeological objects. Leading scientists present their results, obtained with innovative techniques such as DNA analysis, 3D-morphometry and isotope analysis, which are of great importance for further discussions on both human evolution and archaeological issues. Front Matter....Pages I-XVI Szombathy’s Excavations in the Mladeč Cave and the First Presentations of the Results....Pages 1-16 In Search of Prototypes — Historical Soft-tissue Reconstructions of Mladeč 1....Pages 17-25 The Structure of the Cave, Stratigraphy, and Depositional Context....Pages 27-40 The Upper Paleolithic Finds from the Mladeč Cave....Pages 41-74 Taphonomic Aspects of the Human Remains from the Mladeč Cave....Pages 75-98 Large Mammal Remains from the Mladeč Caves and their Contribution to Site Formation Processes....Pages 99-148 14 C Dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic Human and Faunal Remains from Mladeč....Pages 149-158 Inventory and Photo-documentation of the Mladeč Hominid Remains....Pages 159-184 Aurignacian Male Crania, Jaws and Teeth from the Mladeč Caves, Moravia, Czech Republic....Pages 185-272 Aurignacian Female Crania and Teeth from the Mladeč Caves, Moravia, Czech Republic....Pages 273-340 Electronic Segmentation Methods Reveal the Preservation Status and Otherwise Unobservable Features of the Mladeč 1 Cranium....Pages 341-356 The Mladeč 3 Infant....Pages 357-383 The Human Postcranial Remains from Mladeč....Pages 385-445 Lost, Destroyed or Misidentified Postcranial Specimens from Mladeč....Pages 447-452 External Geometry of Mladeč Neurocrania Compared with Anatomically Modern Humans and Neandertals....Pages 453-471 Pathological Alterations and Traumas in the Human Skeletal Remains from Mladeč....Pages 473-489 No Evidence of Neandertal mtDNA Contribution to Early Modern Humans....Pages 491-503 Non-destructive Determination of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr Isotope Ratios in Early Upper Paleolithic Human Teeth from the Mladeč Caves — Preliminary Results....Pages 505-514 Back Matter....Pages 515-528 This beautifully illustrated monograph addresses - for the first time - the complete assemblage of the Mladec caves finds, including the human cranial, post cranial, teeth and jaw fragments of several individuals as well as faunal remains and archaeological objects. Leading scientists present their results, obtained with innovative techniques such as DNA analysis, 3D-morphometry and isotope analysis, which are of great importance for further discussions on both human evolution and archaeological issues. Deals with the assemblage of the Mladec caves finds. This illustrated book includes the human cranial, post cranial, teeth and jaw fragments of several individuals as well as faunal remains and archaeological objects. Here, the scientists present their results, obtained with techniques such as DNA analysis, 3D-morphometry and isotope analysis When Szombathy began studies in the Moravian karsts, prehistory was far from being its own discipline at the Vienna University.