%0 Journal Article %A Riga, Alessandro %A Oxilia, Gregorio %A Panetta, Daniele %A Salvadori, Piero A. %A Benazzi, Stefano %A Wadley, Lyn %A Moggi-Cecchi, Jacopo %+ Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society %T Human deciduous teeth from the Middle Stone Age layers of Sibudu Cave (South Africa) : %G eng %U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0002-D544-1 %R 10.4436/jass.96005 %7 2018 %D 2018 %* Review method: peer-reviewed %X In the African Pleistocene, the fossil evidence for early
Homo sapiens
populations is still
relatively limited. Here we present two additional specimens (two deciduous teeth) recovered from the Middle
Stone Age (MSA) deposits of Sibudu Cave (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). We describe their morphology and
metrics, using three-dimensional models of the teeth obtained from high-resolution micro-CT images. The first
specimen is a Ldm
1
(HUM. TO 1) recovered in the BS5 layer dated 77.3 ± 2.7 ka, and associated with stone
tools assigned to the “pre-Still Bay” assemblage. The other specimen is a Rdi
1
(HUM. TO 2) coming from the
Pinkish Grey Sand (PGS) layer, dated 64.7±2.3 ka, and associated with a Howieson’s Poort industry. Both
teeth are well preserved, with minor post mortem cracks not affecting the overall morphology, and they comprise
the intact, worn crown and the remnants of the roots, naturally resorbed. A large carious lesion occupies most
of the distal face and part of the occlusal surface in the Ldm
1
; also a chip of enamel is missing from the disto-
buccal corner. For both teeth, we compared mesio-distal (MD) and bucco-lingual (BL) diameters with those
of other Late Pleistocene deciduous teeth and extant
Homo sapiens
. The analysis has shown that the teeth are
comparable in size with the other MSA specimens described in the literature. %K Sibudu Cave, Deciduous teeth, Middle Stone Age, South Africa %J Journal of Anthropological Sciences %V 96 %& 75 %P 75 - 87 %I Istituto Italiano di Antropologia %C Rom