Late Upper Palaeolithic skull from Moča, southern Slovakia, in contrast with recent population: geometric morphometric analysis.
Abstract
In April 1990, an excellently preserved cranium was found during gravel extractions from Danube River bottom at Moča (Komárno distr., southern Slovakia). Neither animal nor archaeological remains were associated with this find.
The specimen was dated by 14C AMS to 11,255 ± 80 years BP (OxA - 7068). The partly fossilised cranium is of an adult female aged probably between 35 to 45 years.
The aim of the study is to evaluate the differences between the Moča skull and recent human sample through 2D geometric morphometrics. A comparative sample consists of 102 (51 males and 51 females) recent human skulls of known age and sex living in the thirties of 20th century (Pachner collection).
The diachronic differences between Late Upper Palaeolithic skull and recent skulls analysed in lateral view include the shape movements in maxilla, forehead, parietal and occipital areas, mostly through the deformation component.