Biomedical subjects

S A Parfitt

Publications and source records attributed to S A Parfitt.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Histomorphometric age assessment of the Boxgrove 1 tibial diaphysis.

Histomorphometric analysis of a medial midshaft chip from the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 500 ka BP) hominid tibia from Boxgrove, U.K. provides a modal age-at-death estimate at the end of the fourth decade of life. This makes Boxgrove 1 one of the older known and systematically aged Middle Pleistocene hominid specimens, and it reinforces the pattern of an underrepresentation of older adults observed in Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic Homo samples.

Age Determination by Skeleton↗

PubMed1999

Diaphyseal cross-sectional geometry of the Boxgrove 1 Middle Pleistocene human tibia.

Cross-sectional geometric analysis of the early Middle Pleistocene human tibia from Boxgrove, West Sussex, U.K. reveals a mosaic pattern relative to other archaic Homo tibiae. The specimen has relatively low percent cortical area within its cross sections. However, it exhibits the high mediolateral strength characteristic of archaic Homo tibiae. Scaled solely to tibial length it is robust, similar to those of the Neandertals and above those of early modern and pre-Late Pleistocene African and Asian humans. However, given ecogeographically-patterned variance in relative tibial length and body laterality, it is most likely that it exhibits a level of robusticity within the range encompassed by Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene archaic Homo combined with arctic body proportions. Given its association with late interglacial cool temperate climatic indicators, the inferred body proportions of the Boxgrove hominid were probably promoted by their minimal level of cultural buffering, requiring a significant biological conservation of body heat.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

The Middle Pleistocene human tibia from Boxgrove.

The Boxgrove tibia was discovered in 1993, associated with Middle Pleistocene fauna, and Lower Palaeolithic archaeology. The sediments at Boxgrove were deposited during a temperate interglacial episode and ensuing cold stage. They thus represent a wide range of modes and environments of deposition. Archaeological remains have been excavated from all the major stratigraphic units, giving a continuity of occupation for this part of southern England over a 10(4) year timescale, through markedly changing climatic regimes. The stratigraphic, archaeological and sedimentological contexts of the tibia are described, as well as its preservation and morphology. Measurements are given, with discussion of reconstructed bone length, and stature estimates. Comparative measurements are provided for fossil and recent human samples: the large dimensions of its diaphysis place the Boxgrove tibia near or beyond the upper size limits of the comparative samples, but its reconstructed length and estimated stature are less exceptional. The elevated robusticity of the specimen indicates exceptional diaphyseal strength and/or cold adapted body proportions paralleling those of the Neanderthals. Disagreement about the taxonomy of Middle Pleistocene hominids and lack of comparable fossil material make a specific assignment for the Boxgrove tibia problematic. The tibia can only definitely be assigned to non-modern Homo sp., with possible further reference to Homo cf. heidelbergensis (Schoetensack, 1908) on temporal and geographic grounds, if the validity of that species is accepted.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

A hominid tibia from Middle Pleistocene sediments at Boxgrove, UK.

Fossil hominids from the earlier Middle Pleistocene of Europe are very rare and the Mauer mandible is generally accepted as the most ancient, with an estimated age of 500 kyr. We report here on the discovery of a human tibia, in association with stone tools, from calcareous silts at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Boxgrove, West Sussex, UK (Fig. 1). The silt units are correlated by mammalian biostratigraphy to an, as yet unnamed, major temperate stage or interglacial that immediately pre-dates the Anglian cold stage. Accordingly, the temperate sediments are equated with oxygen isotope stage 13 (ref. 6) and are therefore roughly coeval with the Mauer mandible. The massive tibia is the oldest hominid fragment from the British Isles and provides the first information about the manufacturers of the early Acheulian industries of Europe. It is assigned to Homo cf. heidelbergensis.

Animals↗