Amud 9, a partial Neandertal foot from Late Mousterian of Israel

Abstract

The renewed excavations of Amud Cave in 1991–1994 furnished OSL and TL ages for the upper portions of Amud’s Middle Paleolithic deposit. The dates center ~55 ka, very close in time to the inferred date of Neandertal interbreeding based on aDNA and slightly before the first appearance of Upper Paleolithic industries in the Levant. The excavations produced 14 new Neandertal specimens, including Amud 9, a partial right foot. The foot comprises portions of the distal tibia, talus, first metatarsal, first proximal phalanx, and a middle and distal phalanx of digit II‐IV. The bones are fairly small and likely belonged to a female. The talus features a strongly projecting fibular articular facet in common with Neandertals, early modern humans from Skhul and Qafzeh, and many tali from Sima de los Huesos. Discriminant analysis of the talus shows that its nearest match lies among tali from Sima de los Huesos, a result primarily attributable to its moderately enlarged posterior trochlear articular breadth. The first metatarsal falls among Neandertals in discriminant space. The pedal phalanges are short and broad, like those of other Neandertals. The length of the first metatarsal and talus predict a female’s stature of 160–166cm. The width of talar trochlea predicts a body mass of 59.9kg. Amud 9’s overall size resembles Tabun C1. Given its close approximation in antiquity to the spread of modern humans, Amud 9’s morphological affinities are of great interest. Amud 9 shows no unequivocal morphological trace of admixture with modern humans, although talar shapes of early modern humans from Skhul and Qafzeh resemble those of Neandertals. Nevertheless, the overall pedal morphology of Amud 9 closely resembles Neandertals, strengthening the impression of the relatively sudden nature of the break between Neandertals and modern humans in the Levant.