Bull. not. Hist. Mus. Lond. (Geol.) 58( 1 ): 1-1 1 



Issued 27 June 2002 



Gough's Cave 1 (Somerset, England): a study 

 of the axial skeleton 



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"CRY MUSEUM 



AUG 2002 



STEVEN E. CHURCHILL 



Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, Durham NC 27708, USA 



TRENTON W. HOLLIDAY 



Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans LA 70118, USA 



r - 



PRESENTED 



PALAEONTOLOGY 



liBBARY 



SYNOPSIS. The postcranial axial skeleton of Cheddar Man (Gough's Cave 1 ) is represented by seventeen presacral vertebrae, 

 the sacrum, and nineteen ribs, all of which are relatively well-preserved. Cheddar Man derives from early Holocene deposits in 

 Gough's Cave, and the remains of his axial postcranial skeleton are described here. Comparative evaluation of the Gough's Cave 

 1 remains reveals an axial skeleton that falls within the range of variation in size and shape of males of the same time period, albeit 

 towards the small end of that range (reflecting relatively short stature in Cheddar Man). 



INTRODUCTION 



The postcranial axial skeleton of Cheddar Man is represented by a 

 single cervical vertebra, eleven thoracic vertebrae, all five lumbar 

 vertebrae, sacrum, and nineteen ribs. The hyoid, manubrium, ster- 

 num and xiphoid process were not recovered. The preservation of the 

 recovered vertebrae is generally good, with many being complete. 

 Sequencing of vertebrae was based on size, details of morphology of 

 the articular facets, neural arches, and transverse and spinous proc- 

 esses, and by evaluating the articulation of each element with the 

 identified supra- and subjacent vertebrae (Bass, 1987; Steele & 

 Bramblett, 1988). Prior efforts to reconstruct the entire articulated 

 vertebral column for museum display involved the gluing of fibrous 

 pads (to represent the intervertebral discs) to the bodies of many of 

 the vertebrae, and in some cases elements were glued to 'mocked up' 

 replicas of the missing vertebrae, making observation and measure- 

 ment of morphology difficult (only the fifth and eighth thoracic and 

 the third lumbar vertebrae could be entirely separated from 

 reconstructive materials: these specimens were thus singled out for 

 photography). The ribs are also in a very good state of preservation 

 overall; more than half of them preserve the head, neck and tubercles 

 proximally and most are complete distally to the area around the 

 anterior angle. Sequencing of ribs was accomplished by examining 

 overall size and shape, the position of the M. iliocostalis line, size 

 and shape of the articular facets, and the height of the rib heads (with 

 the inferior bodies held in the same plane) relative to one another 

 (Mann, 1993). A number of the ribs bear cut marks that may be 

 attributable to stone tools. 



Each vertebra is briefly described, followed by a discussion of the 

 vertebral morphology of Gough's Cave 1 (the sacrum is described 

 along with the os coxae in Trinkaus, this series). The ribs are then 

 likewise described and their morphology discussed. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



The description of the Gough's Cave 1 axial postcranial remains is 

 augmented by osteometric data and comparisons with various sam- 

 ples of fossil and recent humans. The necessity of accurate 

 identification of vertebral and costal number (i.e., the position of the 

 element in the series) for collection of comparative data presents 

 difficulties in working with fragmentary fossil material (see 



Franciscus & Churchill, 2002). For vertebral morphology, compara- 

 tive osteometries were collected on European terminal Pleistocene 

 specimens (all associated with Late Upper Paleolithic assemblages, 

 and dating between 19,000 and 11,000 ybp) and early Holocene 

 specimens (associated with Mesolithic assemblages and dating 

 between 10,000 and 5,000 ybp). These two samples thus bracket in 

 age the Gough's Cave 1 skeleton. The terminal Pleistocene sample 

 includes Arene Candide 2, 4, 5, 10 and 12, Bichon 1, Bruniquel 24, 

 Cap Blanc 1 , Chancelade 1 , Grotta Contineza, Grotte des Enfants 3. 

 La Madeleine, Oberkassel 1 and 2, Parabita 1 and 2, Le Peyrat 5 and 

 6. Romito 4, St. Germain La Riviere 4 and Veyrier 1 (Paoli et al., 

 1980; Simon & Morel, nd; Genet-Varcin & Miquel, 1967; von 

 Bonin, 1935;Vallois, 1941^16, 1972;Verneau, 1906;deQuatrefages 

 &Hamy, 1882; Verworn eta!., 1919; Cremonesi etal, 1972;Patte, 

 1968; Graziosi, 1962; Vallois, 1972; Pittard & Sauter, 1945). The 

 early Holocene sample is composed of Los Azules, Gramat 1, 

 Hoedic8and9, Rastel LTeviec 1,11 and 16(Fernandez-Tresguerres, 

 1976; Lacam et al, 1944; Barral & Primard, 1962; Pequart et al, 

 1937). Additional comparative data was collected on recent Europe- 

 ans (n = 125), north Africans (n = 61 ) and sub-Saharan Africans (n = 

 26) (details of sample composition are provided in Holliday, 1995). 

 For the ribs, comparative data is limited to a small sample of recent 

 European-Americans (n = 20: Franciscus & Churchill, 2002). 



Operational definitions of the measurements employed can be 

 found in Martin (1928) or as footnotes to Tables. Vertebral 

 osteometries are provided in Tables 1-3, costal osteometries are in 

 Tables 6-8. All measurements were taken by the authors on the 

 original specimens; measurements quoted in brackets in Tables 1-9 

 are estimated values. 



VERTEBRAL REMAINS 



Descriptions 



Cervical vertebra 6 or 7 (fig. 1 ) 



A single cervical vertebra, complete except for some damage to the 

 left side ventral surface of the corpus, is preserved (at bottom of Fig. 

 1 ). Based on its size and neural arch morphology (the transverse 

 processes are large and laterally flaring) it appears to be either the 6th 

 or 7th cervical vertebra (this element is attached superiorly to a 

 'mocked up' cervical vertebral column, thus preventing examination 



) The Natural History Museum, 2002 



