The Paleoindian burial from the Brazilian rockshelter site of Toca dos Coqueiros was discovered in July 1997 (Guidon et al., 1998). The site is one of several known Paleoindian sites in the immediate region of the Serra da Capivara National Park, located in the northeastern Brazilian state of Piaui (Guidon and Arnaud, 1991). The interred individual, carrying a calibrated date of 11,060 years BP (conventional radiocarbon age of 9,870 50 years BP; beta 109844; Guidon et al., 1998), is significant in being one of the oldest human skeletons recovered in the New World, and was described as female (Lessa and Guidon, 2002). I had the opportunity to examine the Coqueiros individual and reconstruct the skull. I present illustrative data to support the view that the Coqueiros skeleton represents a gracile male. Comparative craniofacial morphometrics suggest as well that Paleoindian groups living in South America at this distant temporal horizon may not have been closely related to later and recent Amerind populations (Neves and Pucciarelli, 1991; Neves et al., 1998, 1999). Our craniometric evaluation of this individual supports that as well (Nelson et al., in press). The cranial vault and much of the enveloping matrix had been stabilized with B72 resin, as these had been subjected to some crushing and fragmentation over the course of time. They did not, however, appear to be particularly deformed, but much of the vault was obscured by soil matrix impregnated with B72. The loose fragment assemblage included a considerable amount of facial material: nasals, maxillary frontal processes, the left malar, and superorbital portions of the frontal, including the glabella. Several basilar fragments were also present, representing the margins of the foramen magnum, sphenoid alae, portions of the occipital squamous, and temporals. In addition to a significant quantity of diagnostic cranial fragments, the assemblage included numerous postcranial fragments. Among this material was the inferior ramus of the right pubis and enough of the posterior inferior iliac spine to reconstruct the posterior margin of the left greater sciatic notch. In addition, both femoral heads and the right humeral and radial heads were available for study. A full reconstruction of the skull was undertaken. Sections of vault bone and matrix embedded in B72 were soaked in acetone, taken apart, cleaned, dried, and reassembled using a plastic-resin DucoTM cement. Loose craniofacial fragments were sorted, sided, and assembled. The bony facial reconstruction was articulated to the vault reconstruction. On the pelvis, the ventral ramus was reconstructed onto the larger portion of the right pubis in order to aid in identification of sex-based morphology. In addition, the posterior inferior iliac spine was reconstructed back to the left innominate, in order to establish the form of the greater sciatic notch. The greater sciatic notch tends to be wider in females and narrower in males, though Fulginiti (1993) demonstrated variability in this tendency. In the dorsal midline, there is sex-based variability in the morphology of the sacrum as well. In males, the centrum of the first sacral vertebra tends to be wider than the alae, by approximately three-fifths vs. onefifth for alar widths, while in females these widths tend to be more evenly apportioned at one-third each of the total sacral width across the top. In the collections at the Fundacao Museu do Homem Americanos (FUMDHAM) is an unambiguous female Paleoindian skeleton dated to within 1,200 years of Coquieros. Lessa and Guidon (2002) mentioned this individual (Toca da Janela da Barro do Antoniao), but stated that they could not use it for comparison. In addition, an unambiguous female os pubis, from a relatively recent burial context (within the past 500 years), was chosen from the collections for purposes of comparison (Fig. 1). Figure 1 is a comparative photograph of the pubic bones from the Coqueiros, Antoniao, and recent female skeletons. The Antoniao individual is in a poor enough state of preservation that visualizing morphology beyond the width of the ventral surface and a hint of the subpubic angle is challenging. In the recent burial (see above), even though the ventral ramus is poorly reconstructed, form is clearly evident, and the width of the ventral surface of the element (with the attendant ventral arc) and subpubic angle are all clearly visible. These stand in stark

中文翻译：

---

新闻和评论

1997 年 7 月在巴西 Toca dos Coqueiros 岩石避难所遗址发现了古印度人墓葬（Guidon 等人，1998 年）。该遗址是位于巴西东北部皮奥伊州 Serra da Capivara 国家公园附近地区的几个已知古印度遗址之一（Guidon 和 Arnaud，1991）。被埋葬的个体携带校准日期为 11,060 年 BP（常规放射性碳年龄为 9,870 50 年 BP；β 109844；Guidon 等人，1998 年），是在新世界发现的最古老的人类骨骼之一，并且具有重要意义。被描述为女性（Lessa 和 Guidon，2002 年）。我有机会检查 Coqueiros 个体并重建头骨。我提供了说明性数据来支持 Coqueiros 骨骼代表优雅男性的观点。比较颅面形态测量学也表明，生活在这个遥远时间范围内的南美洲的古印第安人群体可能与后来和最近的美洲印第安人种群没有密切关系（Neves 和 Pucciarelli，1991 年；Neves 等人，1998 年，1999 年）。我们对这个人的颅骨测量评估也支持这一点（纳尔逊等人，印刷中）。颅顶和大部分包膜基质已用 B72 树脂稳定，因为随着时间的推移，它们已经受到了一些压碎和碎裂。然而，它们似乎并没有特别变形，但大部分拱顶都被浸有 B72 的土壤基质所掩盖。松散的碎片组合包括大量面部材料：鼻部、上颌额突、左颧骨和额骨的上眶部分，包括眉间。还存在几个基底碎片，代表枕骨大孔、蝶骨翼、枕部鳞状细胞和颞骨的边缘。除了大量的诊断颅骨碎片外，该组合还包括许多颅后碎片。这些材料包括右侧耻骨下支和足够的髂后下棘重建左侧坐骨大切迹的后缘。此外，股骨头和右侧肱骨头和桡骨头都可用于研究。进行了头骨的完整重建。将嵌入 B72 的穹窿骨和基质部分浸泡在丙酮中，拆开、清洁、干燥并使用塑料树脂 DucoTM 水泥重新组装。对松散的颅面碎片进行分类、整理和组装。骨面部重建与拱顶重建相连。在骨盆上，腹侧支被重建到右侧耻骨的较大部分，以帮助识别基于性别的形态。此外，将髂后下棘重建回左侧无名骨，以建立坐骨大切迹的形状。尽管 Fulginiti (1993) 证明了这种趋势的变异性，但女性的坐骨切迹较大，而男性的则更窄。在背中线，骶骨的形态也存在性别差异。在男性中，第一骶椎的中心往往比翼更宽，鼻翼宽度约为五分之三与五分之一，而在女性中，这些宽度往往更均匀地分配在顶部总骶骨宽度的三分之一处。在 Fundacao Museu do Homem Americanos (FUMDHAM) 的藏品中，是一具明确的古印度女性骨架，其历史可追溯到 Coquieros 的 1,200 年之内。Lessa 和 Guidon (2002) 提到了这个人 (Toca da Janela da Barro do Antoniao)，但表示他们不能用它来进行比较。此外，为了比较的目的，从收藏品中选择了一个来自相对较新的墓葬环境（过去 500 年之内）的明确女性耻骨（图 1）。图 1 是 Coqueiros、Antoniao 和近期女性骨骼的耻骨对比照片。Antoniao 个体的保存状态很差，以至于观察腹面宽度以外的形态和耻骨下角的迹象是具有挑战性的。在最近的墓葬中（见上文），尽管腹支重建不佳，但形态清晰可见，元素腹面的宽度（伴随腹弧）和耻骨下角都清晰可见。这些立于不败之地