A Fossil Human Humerus from Khvalynsk: Morphology and Taxonomy

A Fossil Human Humerus from Khvalynsk: Morphology and Taxonomy

M.B. Mednikova, M.V. Dobrovolskaya, A.P. Buzhilova, and M.N. Kandinov.

A fossil humerus from Khoroshevsky Island, Khvalynsk, Saratov Province, previously believed to have been lost eighty years ago, was studied by osteometric, X-ray, tomographic, histological, and paleopathological methods. The results suggest that the fossil represents an adult Neanderthal, apparently male, displaying a peculiar hormonal status which fi nds no direct parallels among known human physiological conditions, either normal or pathological.

Keywords: Human evolution, Homo, fossil hominids, postcranial skeleton, skeletal robusticity, Volga, bone histology,
computerized tomography.