Des nouveaux vestiges néanderthaliens à Las Pélénos (Monsempron-Libos, Lot-et-Garonne, France)

Abstract

The Las Pélénos site was excavated in 1950 by L. Coulonges, then several times between 1974 and 2008 by one of our team (A. Q.). During Coulonges' excavations, ten Neanderthal remains were discovered in the Mousterian layer. Since 1995, four other human remains have been unearthed, partly outside their stratigraphic context. These remains include two teeth and two cranial vault pieces. They are thought to come from the Mousterian context found during the Coulonges dig, but their phylogenetic identity has yet to be confirmed. A comparative morphometric study was therefore made. Our analysis of a number of their morphological traits indicates that the specimens are undoubtedly Neanderthal remains. The metric data, although nonspecific, are within the known range of variability of the Neanderthal population. © 2011 Société d'anthropologie de Paris et Springer-Verlag France.