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Free keywords:
Neanderthal; Deciduous human canine; Late Middle Paleolithic; Mediterranean Europe; Virtual analysis; 2D and 3D enamel thickness
Abstract:
The site of Riparo Broion (Vicenza, northeastern Italy) preserves a stratigraphic
sequence documenting the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition, in particular the final
Mousterian and the Uluzzian cultures. In 2018 a human tooth was retrieved from a late
Mousterian level, representing the first human remain ever found from this rock shelter
(Riparo Broion 1). Here we provide the morphological description and taxonomic
assessment of Riparo Broion 1 with the support of classic and virtual morphology, 2D
and 3D analysis of the topography of enamel thickness, and DNA analysis. The tooth is
an exfoliated right upper deciduous canine, and its general morphology and enamel
thickness distribution support attribution to a Neanderthal child. Correspondingly, the mitochondrial DNA sequence from Riparo Broion 1 falls within the known genetic
variation of Late Pleistocene Neanderthals, in accordance with newly obtained
radiocarbon dates which point to approximately 48 ka cal BP as the most likely
minimum age for this specimen. The present work describes novel and direct evidence
of the late Neanderthal occupation in northern Italy that preceded the marked cultural
and technological shift documented by the Uluzzian layers in the archaeological
sequence at Riparo Broion. Here we provide a new full morphological, morphometric,
and taxonomic analysis of Riparo Broion 1, in addition to generating the wider
reference sample of Neanderthal and modern human upper deciduous canines. This
research contributes to increasing the sample of fossil remains from Italy, as well as
the number of currently available upper deciduous canines, which are presently poorly documented in the scientific literature.
