Marie-Antoinette de Lumley

The Early Oldowan Stone-Tool Assemblage from Fejej FJ-1A, Ethiopia

Located in the Omo-Turkana basin at the northern limit of the Koobi Fora sedimentary Formation, the Fejej region has recently proven to be a rich study area for understanding early hominin behaviour and paleoenvironmental conditions. Among the rich fossiliferous and stone artefact localities discovered so far at Fejej, the FJ-1a archeological site has yielded a faunal and lithic assemblage in primary context. The archeological level is situated within a 15 meter fluvial sequence beneath a volcanic tuff. Geochronological data from the FJ-1 sequence indicate an age of nearly 1,9 Ma for the FJ-1a artefact level. The stone industry was knapped from locally available raw materials (mainly quartz and basalt) and rocks had been carefully selected according to specific petrographical and formal criterion. Hominins mastered several distinct stone knapping methods and used more or less exhaustive reduction sequences in order to produce small flakes. The different techniques used for stone reduction are defined in this paper thanks to a series of refits of flakes onto cores. Along with the refits, an in-depth analysis of the flakes, cores and worked pebbles provides an overview of the technological capacities of hominins present at the site nearly 2 million years ago. After the Fejej FJ-1a site was abandoned the archeological materials were rapidly buried, leaving an almost undisturbed archeological level. This site appears to represent a short episode of hominin occupation.

Neanderthal child and adult remains from a Mousterian deposit in Northern Italy (Caverna delle fate, finale ligure)

Recent identification of human skeletal material from the early Wurmian bone assemblage found in the Caverna delle Fate, Finale Ligure, N. Italy, at the end of the 19th century has provided the first certain Neanderthalian remains of Northern Italy. A frontal bone fragment (Le Fate I) and a hemimandible (Le Fate II) are from an 8–10-year-old child and add to the as yet scanty knowledge of Neanderthal infant morphology. The third fragment (Le Fate III) (mandible fragment) is from an adult. Evolutionary trends involving several morphological features and in apparent contrast with the absolute age of the specimens (75,000−14,000+21,000 and 82,000−25,00036,000 yr B.P., as calculated by direct non-destructive high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry of the bones from the 231Pa/235U and from the 230Th/234U ratios respectively) are described. The data as a whole lend further support to the suggestion that a Mediterranean Neanderthal population may have existed.

Digital modelling and stereolithographic production of a Homo Erectus skull

The National Museum of Natural History has been carrying out, over the last several years, a study of hominid fossil skulls, which have been discovered in different regions of the world. The aim of the palaeo‐anthropological study of these skulls is to reconstruct the genealogic tree of the evolution of man and to understand better, the diversity of the homo Erectus species on the different continents. Currently, digital techniques and those of rapid prototyping offer a solution to these problems by allowing the virtual or physical reconstitution of the skulls for scientific study. This paper presents this new perspective for the world of palaeontology.

Expression of Nonmetric Dental Traits in Western European Neanderthals

Specific dental abnormalities are considered pathognomonic of congenital syphilis (CS); however, European physicians recognized their variation during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries. Observations of syphilis-related dental abnormalities in American individuals from similar time periods are made to determine types of variation among the American population. From a survey of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History anatomical human skeletal collection, five individuals demonstrated dental characteristics consistent with CS (P00011R, P219398, P000707, P000679, and P000161). Hutchinson’s three categories of dental anomalies were used to describe variations among syphilitic individuals. Previously identified pathological dental characteristics related to CS were present in the analyzed individuals. P00011R, 24-year-old Black female, has a maxillary right Moon’s molar. P219398, approximately 20-year-old Black female, has Hutchinson’s incisors and Fournier’s molars. P000707, 26-year-old Black male, displays severe hypoplasia on all incisors, canines and maxillary first molars. P000679, 33-year-old Black female has “screwdriver” shaped maxillary central incisors, altered occlusal morphology of first maxillary molars and hypoplasia. P000161, 45-year-old Black female, demonstrates severe hypoplasia on incisors and canines (molars lost). “Classic” dental characteristics of CS are not ubiquitous to all identified cases. This study exemplifies that dental anomalies associated with CS do not all have to be present for diagnosis. Although other causes for some of these anomalies are possible, observations in these five cases are most consistent with CS. Five Cases of Dental Anomalies Attributable to Congenital Syphilis from Early 20 Century American Anatomical Collections Stella Ioannou*, David Hunt, and Maciej Henneberg 1 Biological Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy Research Unit, Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005 2 Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013-7012 Prior to the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s, syphilis was a public health problem in the United States (Lancet, 1930; Lancet, 1937a). The prevalence of syphilis in the United States at that time is difficult to determine, as data collection for syphilis by state health departments did not begin until the early 20th Century, and the Venereal Disease Division of the U.S. Public Health Service was not created until 1918 (Nakashima et al., 1996). To control venereal disease, various states implemented programs (free treatment, and clinics that offered free, pay, and part pay clinics) (Lancet, 1937a), and legislation (marital examination law and prenatal law) (Lancet, 1917; Prebble, 1938; Lancet, 1940; DePorte, 1941). In cases of medical intervention, mercury was used to treat congenital syphilis in the 19th and early 20th centuries throughout the United States (Conrad and McCann, 1922; Cole et al., 1929; Scheer and Fraser, 1930; Cole et al., 1933; Chargin and Saunders, 1939). Treatments of syphilis also included chemotherapies of arsenic and bismuth compounds (Lee, 1878; Cole et al., 1929; Eller and Maloney, 1929). The chemotherapies most favored in the treatment of congenital syphilis included mercury, arsphenamine and potassium iodide (United States. Public Health Service. Division of Venereal Diseases, 1930). The effectiveness of mercury as a treatment for syphilis has been questioned (Miller, 1858: Weatherill, 1833); although, the treatment remained popular with some physicians. In some cases, syphilitic lesions completely healed and patients became seronegative (Wakerlin, 1934). In syphilitic women treated with mercury during their pregnancy, 91.5% were efficient in completing their pregnancies successfully by live birth, while 47.6% non-treated women experienced fetal death (United States. Public Health Service. Division of Venereal Diseases, 1930). Mercury and its compounds were seen to *Correspondence to: Stella Ioannou The University of Adelaide Adelaide 5005, South Australia, Australia email: stelzy_25@hotmail.com