S.E. CHURCHILL AND T.W. HOLLIDAY 



Table 3 Dimensions (mm) of the lumbar vertebrae. 



LI 



L2 



L3 



L4 



L5 



Dorso- ventral Diameter 1 



Superior external transverse articular diameter 



Superior internal transverse articular diameter' 



Superior transverse articular diameter 4 



Inferior external transverse articular diameter 5 



Inferior internal transverse articular diameter 6 



Inferior transverse articular diameter 7 



Spinal canal dorso-ventral diameter (M-10) 



Spinal canal transverse diameter (M-l 1 ) 



Spinous process length 8 



Spinous process angle 9 



Body ventral height (M-l) 



Body dorsal height (M-2) 



Body median height (M-3) 



Body superior dorso-ventral diameter (M-4) 



Body superior transverse diameter (M-7) 



Body inferior dorso-ventral diameter (M-5) 



Body inferior transverse diameter (M-6) 



Body sagittal angle 1 " 



80.2" 



85.1 



86.4 



- 



79.3 



35.7 



30.3 



34.8 



37.8 



54.7 



17.4 



- 



20.9 



20.3 



21.3 



26.6 



- 



27.9 



29.1 



38.0 



29.6 



31.0 



34.1 



46.2 



52.4 



- 



18.8 



16.4 



19.8 



27.9 



- 



24.9 



25.3 



33.0 



40.2 



18.9 



- 



15.2 



17.0 



18.3 



24.2 



20.9 



21.8 



22.6 



22.9 



27.8" 



33.9 



37.5 



- 



34.6 



2° 



2° 



16° 



- 



30° 



(20.3) 



22.0 



23.6 



26.2 



(25) 



(26.5) 



26.0 



26.9 



25.5 



24.0 



- 



- 



25.0 



- 



- 



(31.6) 



- 



40.3 



36.4 



34.1 



44.8 



45.5 



47.5 



50.0 



52.8 



- 



39.7 



37.2 



(36.4) 



(30) 



48.2 



50.3 



52.1 



52.9 



(50) 



-15° 



(-14°) 



-10° 



-6° 



+8° 



'From the mid-ventral surface of the body to the dorsal tip of the spinous process. 



2 Maximum distance between the lateral edges of the superior articular facets. 



'Maximum distance between the medial edges of the superior articular facets. 



•"Average of the external and internal transverse articular diameters of the superior articular facets. 



'Maximum distance between the lateral edges of the inferior articular facets. 



''Maximum distance between the medial edges of the inferior articular facets. 



'Average of the external and internal transverse articular diameters of the inferior articular facets. 



"From the ventro-superior margin of the intersection of the laminae and the spinous process to the dorsal tip of the spinous process (not including the unfused tubercle). 



"The angle between the central long axis of the spinous process and the horizontal plane of the superior surface of the body, taken in the median sagittal plane of the vertebra. 



"'Angle in the median sagittal plane between the tangents to the median sagittal surfaces of the superior and inferior vertebral disk surfaces (a positive angle has its apex 



dorsally and opens ventrally). 



"Dorsal tubercle of spinous process unfused and missing. 



The spinous process is of moderate length and is horizontally 

 projecting from the corpus (Table 3). The dorsal supero-inferior 

 body height is greater than that of the ventral surface, and the body 

 is wide in transverse diameter relative to dorso-ventral diameter. 



Lumbar vertebra 3 (fig. 6) 



The third lumbar vertebra is complete except for the lateral portion 

 of the right side transverse process. The tip of the spinous process is 

 fused but the epiphyseal line is still open along its superior edge. The 

 inferior and superior annular rings appear to be fully fused to the 

 centrum, with the epiphyseal lines completely obliterated. 



The spinous process is mildly angled inferiorly relative to the 

 plane of the corpus (Table 3) and is of moderate length. The body is 

 supero-inferiorly higher on its dorsal than ventral aspect. Both the 

 body and spinal canals are wide transversely relative to their dorso- 

 ventral dimensions. 



Lumbar vertebra 4 



The fourth lumbar vertebra is largely complete. It lacks only the 

 spinous process and the right side transverse process. Slight erosion 

 to the ventral surface of the body is evident. The superior surface of 

 the body is covered by reconstructive material. 



The ventral surface of the body is supero-inferiorly higher than the 

 dorsal surface (Table 3). The corpus and spinal canal are transversely 

 wide relative to their dorso-ventral diameters. 



Lumbar vertebra 5 



This vertebra is largely complete, lacking only the lateral ends of the 

 transverse processes. Matrix is concreted to the left side transverse 

 process, inferior articular facet and lamina. There is some erosion 

 visible on the ventral surface of the body. The superior surface of the 

 corpus is obscured by reconstructive material. 



The spinous process is shorter than that of the third lumbar 

 vertebra (Table 3) and is the most inferiorly directed of all the lumbar 



vertebrae. The ventral surface of the body is higher supero-inferiorly 

 than the dorsal surface. The body and spinal canal are transversely 

 wide relative to their dorso-ventral diameters. 



Morphology 



When articulated, the thoracic vertebrae show a normal kyphosis 

 (Fig. 2). The sum of the ventral body heights is 196.5 mm (using the 

 average of the ventral heights of the first and third vertebrae for the 

 missing corpus of vertebra 2), considerably shorter than the mean 

 value for recent European males reported by Boule and Vallois 

 (1937) of 243.1 mm, and is closer to the mean value of 221.9 mm 

 obtained for European females (standard deviations and sample 

 sizes not given). This is a reflection of the shorter stature of the 

 Gough's Cave 1 individual relative to recent European males (see 

 Holliday & Churchill, this series). The total ventral body height of 

 Cheddar Man is more similar to, yet still on the small side of, the 

 male and female skeletons from Teviec (male skeletons 2 [217.5 

 mm] and 16 [231.0], female skeletons 1 [217.5] and 6 [223.5]: Boule 

 & Vallois, 1937). This becomes more apparent when one looks at 

 dorsal body heights, which are more reliable indicators of trunk 

 height than are the ventral heights (which are frequently subject to 

 anterior wedging: Stewart, 1966). Summary statistics for total tho- 

 racic column height (summed dorsal body heights for T1-T12) for 

 comparative samples can be found in Table 4. The total thoracic 

 height figure for Gough's Cave 1 and the majority of the fossil 

 sample were predicted via least-squares regressions of total thoracic 

 height on those elements preserved for a recent human series (n=45: 

 Holliday, 1995). The standard error of the estimate for the measure- 

 ments predicted by this method is very low (Holliday, 1995), 

 providing a reasonable degree of confidence in the predicted values. 

 In no case was a predicted thoracic height used if its standard error of 

 the estimate was greater than 3% of the prediction itself. 



