Bull. nat. Hist. Miis. Land. (Geol.) 57( 1 ):7-24 



AX635iH'^.\3 



Issued 28 June 2001 



The Creswellian (Pleistocene) human upper 

 Hmb remains from Gough's Cave (Somerset, 

 England) 



STEVEN E. CHURCHILL 



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



Synopsis. The human remains from the Pleistocene deposits in Cough's Cave include more than 25 fragmentary elements from 

 the pectoral girdle and upper limb. These remains are described here, and represent at least three and most likely four individuals 

 (two larger, possibly male individuals and two smaller, possibly female or juvenile individuals). Many of these fragmentary bones 

 show marks made by stone tools, including one element (a right radius) with engraving, suggesting human damage before they 

 were deposited. 



INTRODUCTION 



The human upper limb remains from the Creswellian levels of 

 Gough's Cave, like those of the lower limb (Trinkaus, this volume), 

 are highly fragmentary. In some cases multiple pieces have been 

 refitted along peri-/post-mortem breaks (the conjoined pieces now 

 being cataloged as a single element), but the assemblage overall 

 remains a fragmentary one, with little possibility of associating 

 pieces by individual. Evidence of human modification of the skeletal 

 elements is abundant (see Cook, 1986; Currant e/ a/., 1989;Andrews 

 & Femandez-Jalvo, this series of papers), and humans were un- 

 doubtedly at least partly responsible for the damage that is 

 characteristic of this assemblage. 



The following description provides inventory information (using 

 the current Natural History Museum catalogue numbers [M.54XXX 

 series], followed by an excavation number or numbers), along with 

 observations on the state or preservation and the morphology of each 

 element. Osteometric comparisons were made, where possible, with 

 comparably-aged (i.e., terminal Pleistocene) European fossil hu- 

 mans. The comparative sample derives primarily from Magdalenian/ 

 Epigravettian contexts (ca. 16-10 kya), and includes male speci- 

 mens AreneCandide 2, 4, 5, lOand 12,Chancelade l,Gough'sCave 

 l,Le Placard 16,Neuessing2.0berkassel l.Rocheriel l,Romanelli 

 l,Romito3,andVeyrierl,7and9(Paolie/fl/., 1980; Vallois, 1941- 

 46; Seligman & Parsons, 1914;Breuil, 1912;Gieseler, 1977;Verwom 

 etai, 1919; Boule& Vallois, 1946; Stasi& Regalia, 1904; Pittard& 

 Sauter, 1945), and female specimens Arene Candide 13 and 14, 

 Bruniquel 24, Cap Blanc 1 , Farincourt 1 , Oberkassel 2, Romito 4 and 

 St. Germain-la-Riviere 4 (Paoli etai. 1980; Genet- Varcin & Miquel, 

 1967;Bonin, 1935;Sauter, 1957;Verwomerfl/., 1919). All compara- 

 tive data were collected by the author on original specimens. 



Five specimens - three claviculae, one humerus and one ulna - 

 had diaphyses reasonably complete to estimate cross-sectional geo- 

 metric properties. The small number of specimens of each element 

 and a general lack of comparative data combine to limit the conclu- 

 sions that can be drawn from structural analysis of diaphyseal 

 morphology. The cross-sectional data are thus included merely as a 

 supplement to the morphological descriptions. 



Diaphyseal cross-sections were reconstructed from radiographs 

 and external contour moulds for the midshaft (claviculae and humeri) 



or mid-proximal (ulnae) diaphyses. Subperiosteal contour moulds 

 were taken perpendicular to the diaphyseal axis, using dental putty 

 moulds (Cuttersil Putty Plus: Heraeus Kulzerlnc). at 50% (midshaft) 

 or 65% (mid-proximal) of biomechanical length (measured from the 

 distal end). The moulds where photostatically reproduced on paper 

 to provide the subperiosteal (outside) contour of the cross-section. In 

 the case of claviculae, ventral, dorsal, superior and inferior cortical 

 thickness dimensions were measured from superoinferior and dors- 

 oventral radiographs. For humeri and ulnae, anterior, posterior, 

 medial and lateral cortical thickness dimensions were measured 

 from mediolateral and anteroposterior radiographs. Subperiosteal 

 dimensions from the original specimens were compared with those 

 from the radiographs to determine the degree of parallax distortion 

 and thus allow for algebraic correction of cortical thickness meas- 

 urements. The cortical dimensions were used along with the 

 subperiosteal contour to interpolate the endosteal contour. The re- 

 sultant cross-sections were manually digitized and geometric 

 properties were computed using a PC-DOS version (Eschman. 1 990) 

 of SLICE (Nagurka & Hayes, 1980). 



SLICE calculates the total subperiosteal (TA) and cortical (CA) 

 areas, second moments of area about the superoinferior (clavicle) or 

 anteroposterior (humerus and ulna) (I^) and dorsoventral (clavicle) 

 or mediolateral (humerus and ulna) (I ) axes, and the maximum (I ^J 

 and minimum (I^^^) second moments of area. Geometric analysis of 

 cross-sections provides measures of the contribution of bone geom- 

 etry to the resistance of biomechanical loads: in the case of cortical 

 area, to axial compressive and tensile loads; for second moments of 

 area, to bending loads. Medullary area (MA) can be determined from 

 total and cortical areas (MA = TA - CA). The polar moment of area 

 (J, or I ) is a measure of torsional rigidity and overall strength, and 

 can be determined as the sum of any two perpendicular second 

 moments of area (J = [I -i- 1] = [I +11). 



^ '■X y rnax mm-" 



In addition to the measures of bone rigidity outlined above, three 

 cross-sectional shape indices were computed to better illustrate the 

 morphology of the Gough's Cave Creswellian upper limb material. 

 The first of these is percent cortical area (%CA = 100*CA/TA), 

 which serves as a simple measure of the degree of cortical occlusion 

 of the medullary space. Ratios of .second moments of area provide 

 information about diaphyseal shape (at the location of the cross 

 section) with respect to anatomical axes (I /I ) or with respect to the 

 axis of maximum bending rigidity (I /I ). 



) The Natural History Museum, 2001 



