Middle Pleistocene lower back and pelvis from an aged human individual from the Sima de los Huesos site, Spain
Alejandro Bonmatí a,b, Asier Gómez-Olivencia a,c, Juan-Luis Arsuaga a,b,1, José Miguel Carretero d, Ana Gracia a,e, Ignacio Martínez e,a, Carlos Lorenzo f,a, José María Bérmudez de Castro g, and Eudald Carbonell f
+Author Affiliations
aCentro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid–Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain;
bDepartamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
cLeverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QH, United Kingdom;
dDepartamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geografía, Facultad de Humanidades y Educación, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain;
eÁrea de Paleontología, Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain;
fInstitut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Área de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43005 Tarragona, Spain; and
gCentro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, 09004 Burgos, Spain
Contributed by Juan-Luis Arsuaga, August 31, 2010 (sent for review May 14, 2010)
Abstract
We report a nearly complete lumbar spine from the Middle Pleistocene site of the Sima de los Huesos (SH) that is assigned to the previously published SH male Pelvis 1 [Arsuaga JL, et al. (1999). Nature 399: 255–258]. The “SH Pelvis 1 individual” is a unique nearly complete lumbo-pelvic complex from the human Middle Pleistocene fossil record, and offers a rare glimpse into the anatomy and past lifeways of Homo heidelbergensis. A revised reconstruction of Pelvis 1, together with the current fossil evidence, confirms our previous hypothesis that the morphology of this pelvis represents the primitive pattern within the genusHomo. Here we argue that this primitive pattern is also characterized by sexual dimorphism in the pelvic canal shape, implying complicated deliveries. In addition, this individual shows signs of lumbar kyphotic deformity, spondylolisthesis, and Baastrup disease. This suite of lesions would have postural consequences and was most likely painful. As a result, the individual’s daily physical activities would have been restricted to some extent. Reexamination of the age-at-death agrees with this individual being over 45 y old, relying on the modern human pattern of changes of the articular surfaces of the os coxae. The presence of degenerative pathological lesions and the advanced age-at-death of this individual make it the most ancient postcranial evidence of an aged individual in the human fossil record. Additional nonpathological SH lumbo-pelvic remains are consistent with previous hypotheses, suggesting a less-pronounced sagittal spinal curvature in Neandertals compared with Homo sapiens.
human evolution, Sierra de Atapuerca, spino-pelvic morphology, paleopathology
Footnotes
1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jlarsuaga@isciii.es.
Author contributions: A.B., A.G.-O., J.-L.A., J.M.C., A.G., I.M., and C.L. designed research; A.B., A.G.-O., J.-L.A., J.M.C., A.G., I.M., C.L., J.M.B.d.C., and E.C. performed research; A.B., A.G.-O., J.-L.A., and J.M.C. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.B., A.G.-O., J.-L.A., J.M.C., A.G., I.M., and C.L. analyzed data; and A.B., A.G.-O., J.-L.A., J.M.C., and A.G. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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