GOUGH'S CAVE AXIAL SKELETON 



Table 4 Summary statistics for thoracic column height (mm) in Recent 

 and Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene samples (mean; SD; n). 



Fig. 6 Gough's Cave 1 third lumbar vertebra. 6a, superior; 6b, lateral; 6c, 

 inferior; x 0.9. 



As is evident from Table 4, Gough's Cave 1 has a short thoracic 

 column relative to most of the mean values for males in the compara- 

 tive samples. The value for his thoracic height is less than that of all 

 the male means, with the exception of the recent sub-Saharan 

 Africans. His value falls within the low end of the male range for 

 most of the samples. Interestingly, his thoracic height falls very close 

 to the mean values of all of the European (Pleistocene, Holocene and 

 recent) female samples. This of course reflects the overall short 

 stature of the Gough's Cave 1 specimen. 





Total Thoracic Height 





Male 



Female 



Gough's Cave 1 



234.7 





Mesolithic Europeans 



25 1.7; 20.4; 4 



233.8; 5.7; 2 



Late Upper Paleolithic Europeans 



256.8; 18.1; 12 



231.8; 10.1:3 



Recent Europeans 



259.0; 12.9; 63 



238.3; 12.6; 52 



Recent North Africans 



239.9; 15.8; 26 



223.5; 8.4; 28 



Recent Sub-Saharan Africans 



229.6; 11.0; 9 



219.7; 16.2; 15 



When articulated, the lumbar vertebrae evince a normal lordosis 

 (Fig. 5). The sum of the ventral body heights is more similar to those 

 observed in the males from Teviec with five lumbar vertebrae (118.5 

 mm in Teviec 2, 1 16.0 in Teviec 4). The females from Teviec with 

 five lumbar vertebrae have total ventral body heights that are slightly, 

 but not substantially, shorter (1 10.0 mm in Teviec 1, 1 12.0 mm in 

 Teviec 3). Three of the skeletons from Teviec have six lumbar 

 vertebrae, without a reduction in the number of thoracic vertebrae, 

 and thus have lumbar regions that are substantially longer supero- 

 inferiorly (Teviec 16 [male], 155 mm; Teviec 6 [female] 148.5 mm: 

 Boule & Vallois, 1937). As with the thoracic vertebral column, 

 inclusion of the summed dorsal body heights of the lumbar vertebrae 

 allows the comparison of Gough's Cave 1 to several Recent and 

 fossil human samples. As for the thoracic column heights, lumbar 

 column heights were predicted via least-squares regressions; none 

 was used if its standard error of the estimate exceeded 3% of the 

 predicted measurement. Table 5 shows that Cheddar Man has a 

 shorter lumbar column than the male mean of all but one compara- 

 tive sample (recent North Africans). To some extent, this is due to the 

 marked posterior wedging exhibited in the specimen's L3-L5 verte- 

 brae (see below). However, his relatively small size also plays a role; 

 his lumbar column height falls squarely among the means for all the 

 European female samples. Importantly, the male mean for the 

 Mesolithic sample is high due to the inclusion of Teviec 16, who, as 

 discussed above, has 6 lumbar vertebrae. 



In recent Europeans, the ventral body height is typically greater 

 than the dorsal body height in the fourth and fifth, and often in the 

 third, lumbar vertebrae (Boule & Vallois, 1937). In the sample from 

 Teviec, this pattern generally holds only for the fifth vertebra (Boule 

 & Vallois, 1937). Gough's Cave 1 evinces the pattern seen in recent 

 Europeans, with a greater supero-inferior dimension of the ventral 

 body in the third, fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae (Table 3). The 

 lumbo-vertebral index (100 * [I dorsal body heights]/[E ventral 

 body heights]) is 110.1 in Cheddar Man, higher than the mean value 

 for the Teviec specimens but not outside their range (mean of six 

 individuals = 103.6, range 96.3-110.1: Boule and Vallois, 1937). 

 The position of the articular facets of the vertebrae indicate a lordotic 

 curvature to the lumbar column (with perhaps greater lordosis cre- 

 ated in the lower lumbars: Fig. 5), so there must have been 

 considerable wedging of the intervening intervertebral disks. 



Table 5 Summary statistics for lumbar column height (mm) in Recent 

 and Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene samples (mean; SD; n). 





Total Lumbar Height 





Male 



Female 



Gough's Cave 1 



128.9 





Mesolithic Europeans 



137.4; 13.5:4 



126.9:8.4:2 



Late Upper Paleolithic Europeans 



130.1; 8.6; 11 



127.9; 2.5; 4 



Recent Europeans 



134.9; 8.0; 66 



128.2:7.4:59 



Recent North Africans 



127.0; 10.5:29 



123.4:7.3:32 



Recent Sub-Saharan Africans 



131.5:5.9: 11 



122.7:9.0; 15 



