Burial of No. 3 child from Dederiyeh Cave in Syria

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22370085
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Physical anthropology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: KONDO Osamu 東京大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (40244347)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ISHIDA Hajime 琉球大学, 医学部, 教授 (70145255) ; AKAZAWA Takeru 高知工科大学, 総合研究所, 教授 (70013735) ; OGUCHI Takashi 東京大学, 空間情報科学研究センター, 教授 (80221852)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): YOSHIDA Hidetsugu 中央大学, 理工学部, 助教 (90548116) ; OGUCHI Chiaki 埼玉大学, 地圏科学研究センター, 准教授 (20312803)
• Research Collaborator: KANJOU Youssef シリア・アレッポ博物館, 館長
• Project Period (FY): 2010-04-01 – 2013-03-31
• Keywords: 化石人類 / 人類進化 / ネアンデルタール人

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A new infant skeleton, which was discovered at 2008-2009 field campaign from the Dederiyeh cave in Syria, was described and compared morphologically, after cleaning, individual sorting and restoration of the collected bone samples. Based on the morphology of the well-preserved femur, and the Neanderthal-like proportion of the pubic bone / femoral length, this individual was found to be a Neanderthal infant.
Furthermore, the chemical composition analysis of soil matrix samples that adhered to the unearthed human bones and animal bones indicated that a set of bones (upper arm + femoral shaft fragments) were found in a specific depositional environment. According to this and morphological assessment, this set was possibly identified as a different individual. The other human bones were assumed as a same individual, once buried in a deposit but scattered after a substantial duration of taphonomy process.

Free Research Field

生物学