12 



E. TRINKAUS 



Fig. 10 Anterior view of the Gough's Cave 1 proximal femora; x 0.8 (enlargement of Fig. 6, top left). 



Distal Epiphyses (Table 10) 



There is little of note on the Gough's Cave 1 distal femoral epiphysis. 

 The condyles are rounded with no evidence of femoral squatting 

 facets. There is only a small rounded ridge along the supracondylar 

 margin of the medial condyles, up to 3.5mm from the condylar 

 surface on the left side where it is best preserved. 



Their bicondylar angles of 10° each are well within Mesolithic 

 ranges of variation (9.7° ± 3.1, N= 19; 8.8° ± 2.5°, N = 15 for males 

 only), all of which are similar to those of recent humans (Tardieu & 

 Trinkaus, 1994). The one measure of distal epiphyseal size for which 

 reasonable Mesolithic comparative samples exist, epicondylar 

 breadth versus bicondylar length, provides an index of 18.1. It 

 suggests a modest but not unusually small epiphysis, given means of 

 18.8 for total (± 1.1, N = 19) and 18.9 for male (± 1.1, N = 14) 

 Mesolithic samples. 



TIBIAE 



Inventory 



Right (No. 1.1/27) 



A complete bone with minor abrasion to the medial half of the 

 posterior distal epiphysis and thin adhering matrix around the proxi- 

 mal epiphysis. 



Left (No. 1.1/26) 



The bone retains two pieces, a proximal posterior piece of the 

 diaphysis with the abraded soleal line (maximum preserved length: 

 ca.80.0mm) and a diaphyseal section with all of the surfaces just 

 proximal of the distal epiphysis (maximum preserved length: 

 ca.50.0mm). Both of the pieces are set in a plaster and papier-mache 

 reconstruction of the bone and attached to the left fibula (Fig. 1 1 ). 



Morphology 



Even though portions of both tibiae are present, meaningful morpho- 

 logical observations can be made primarily on the essentially 

 complete right bone. Therefore, the following comments apply to the 

 right bone except where noted otherwise. 



Diaphysis (Tables 11, 12, 14; Figs 11, 12) 



The right tibial diaphysis has a gently 'S'-curved, sharply angled 

 anterior crest, which is bordered medially by a smooth and slightly 

 convex medial diaphyseal surface. The lateral surface is convex 

 between the interosseus crest and the anterior margin and concave 

 between the crest and the postero-lateral corner along the proximal 

 two-thirds of the diaphysis. Distal of there, it becomes fully convex. 

 The postero-medial margin is rounded proximal of the meeting of 

 the soleal line with that margin, near midshaft. 



Both tibiae have a distinct but small flexor line, a crest between the 

 origins of M. tibialis posterior and. M. flexor digitorum longus on the 

 proximal posterior diaphysis extending distally from the soleal line. 

 On the right bone, it is raised from the subperiosteal surface along 

 ca.78mm distally from the soleal line. The soleal line itself is a low 

 rugose area proximal of the flexor line, 4.7mm wide near the flexor 

 line and 5.3mm wide more proximally. Disto-medial of the flexor 

 line, the soleal line becomes a slightly raised crest, extending to the 

 medial side distally. The interosseus line is a distinct crest from the 

 very proximal shaft to about midshaft, at which level it becomes 

 blunt and blends in with the lateral diaphysis. 



The nutrient foramen is located just medial of the flexor line, 

 37.5mm distal of the intersection of the two muscular lines. 



The Gough's Cave 1 tibial diaphysis, like those of other Mesolithic 

 humans, is distinctly platycnemic. Its cnemic index of 55.9 is even 

 slightly below the means of Mesolithic (62.4 ± 5.8, N = 73) and 

 Mesolithic male (61.8 ±6.2, N = 46) samples. Moreover, its 35% to 

 80% I /I ratios are all higher than the means of Mesolithic 



