Objective

The aim of this paper is to provide new insights into growth patterns and health of Mousterian hunter-gatherers dated to ca. 90–100 kyrs B.P. from the Qafzeh site.

Materials

An almost complete skeleton, including the mandible from the Qafzeh site (Qafzeh 9).

Methods

Micro-CT and medical imaging techniques are used to explore inaccessible inner structures and to assess the etiology of identified lesion.

Results

Mandibular and dental conditions appear to be growth-related skeletal disorders.

Conclusion

To our knowledge, Qafzeh 9 offers the earliest evidence of associated mandibular and dental pathological conditions (i.e. non-ossifying fibroma of the mandible, pre-eruptive intracoronal resorption and osteochondritis dissecans of the temporomandibular joint) among early anatomically modern humans, and more generally among Middle Palaeolithic hominins in Southwestern Asia. The diagnoses can be added to other growth-related disorders of skulls previously documented from the Qafzeh site (Tillier, 1999; Tillier et al., 2001), suggesting a quite high and exceptional incidence of these conditions compared to those of Palaeolithic populations.

Significance

Identification of pathological conditions in subadults from Eurasia dated to the Middle Palaeolithic is documented less often than in adult skeletons. Hence, new results from immature fossil remains are particularly important to our understanding of the past.

Suggestions for further research

This research will be extended to the rest of the skeleton, then to all Qafzeh specimens in order to broaden our understanding of this anatomically modern group.

中文翻译：

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再谈Qafzeh 9下颌骨（约90-100 kyrs BP，以色列）：μ-CT和3D显示新的病理状况。

目的

本文的目的是提供有关Mousterian狩猎采集者的生长模式和健康状况的最新见解，其历史可追溯至大约1989年。来自Qafzeh网站的90–100 kyrs BP。

用料

几乎完整的骨骼，包括来自Qafzeh站点（Qafzeh 9）的下颌骨。

方法

Micro-CT和医学成像技术用于探索难以接近的内部结构，并评估已鉴定病变的病因。

结果

下颌和牙齿疾病似乎是与生长相关的骨骼疾病。

结论

据我们所知，Qafzeh 9最早提供了早期解剖学上相关人类相关的下颌和牙齿病理状况（即下颌骨非骨化性纤维化，颞下颌关节的喷发前冠状动脉内吸收和骨软骨炎剥离）的证据。西南亚中部旧石器时代的人类。可以将诊断结果添加到先前从Qafzeh站点记录的其他与头骨生长相关的疾病中（Tillier，1999； Tillier等，2001），这表明与旧石器时代的人群相比，这些疾病的发病率非常高且异常。

意义

与成年骨骼相比，从欧亚大陆的亚成人到旧石器时代的病理状况的鉴定记录的频率要低。因此，未成熟化石遗骸的新结果对于我们对过去的了解特别重要。

进一步研究的建议

这项研究将扩展到骨骼的其余部分，然后扩展到所有Qafzeh标本，以扩大我们对这个解剖学上现代的群体的理解。