Morphological diversity in Neanderthal and modern human skeleton as viewed from Dederiyeh Neanderthal

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Two Dederiyeh Neanderthal children of about two years old from Syria were compared with other Neanderthal(N=10), Skhul-Qafzeh(N=4) and modern children(N=89) through univariate statistical analysis of cranial measurements to evaluate the ontogenetic, phylogenetic patterns and variations in early stages of development. We calculated the Z-scores and associated probabilities for each fossil specimen using the standard deviation of modern residuals.Several conspicuous features of Neanderthals, including high orbits, low nasiofrontal angle, wide bi-dc breadth, large maximum occipital breadth and wide nasal bone, are recognized in the Dederiyeh children even from the early developmental stage of two years old. The developmental patterns observed here are comparable to those based on geometric morphometric analyses showing early manifestation of a taxonomic difference in cranial morphology between Neanderthals and modern humans.However, close inspection of the growth profile demonstrates two different patterns in the measurement items. The first one is the almost parallel course of development showing an early indication of the taxonomic difference by at least two years of age. The second is indistinguishable between Neanderthals and modern humans showing the absence of a clear difference during ontogeny. The second includes a diverging pattern indicating a possible rapid development in Neanderthals during early childhood between about 2 to 4 years of age. The last subdivision is attributable to the masticatory complex.