A late upper palaeolithic skull from Moca (The Slovak Republic) in the context of central Europe
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae : Series B: Historia naturalis |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.nm.cz/publikace/publikace-detail-en.php?id=4 |
| Field | Applied statistics, operation research |
| Keywords | Human cranium; morphology; adult; southern Slovakia; Danube River; Central Europe |
| Description | In April 1990, an excellently preserved cranium was found during gravel extractions from the bottom of the river Danube at Moča, in the Komárno district of southern Slovakia. Neither animal, nor archaeological remains were associated with this find. According to the calibrated 14C date, the individual had lived during the second half of the twelfth millennia cal BC, during the Late Upper Palaeolithic. The geologic-morphological background of this find, combined with absolute dating, made the reconstruction of its approximately primary position possible. The skull’s primary fossilization site is presumed to have been somewhere on the periphery of the local Kravany Terrace of the Danube. Both the fossiliferous layer sediments and the skull were later eroded and transported to the flood plain. Regarding the skull, its sex, age, morphology and morphometrics were investigated. The partly fossilised cranium was of an adult female, most probably aged 40 years (sd=10yrs). Her skull has a gracile to moderate construction, with moderately marked muscle relief. The Moča find adds to the small collection of directly dated Late Upper Palaeolithic humans in Central Europe. Measurements of the Moča skull and most of its morphology are mainly within the recent human remains variability; however, it does not basically differ from the Late Upper Palaeolithic sample. Conversely, some of its measurements, e.g. great basion-prosthion length, individualize it. |
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