Metatarsal

The preservation of Homo fossil foot remains prior to modern humans and Neandertals is very scarce throughout the fossil record. Understanding foot morphology in human evolution is essential to know taxonomic processes and to acquiring information about corporal size. Here, we present a comprehensive study of the large foot remains sample recovered from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (SH). The minimum number of individuals (MNI) has been established at 16 by the foot remains. As is the case with other elements of the foot, metric and morphological differences in the feet between Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins tend to be subtle. However, an exclusive combination of traits can be recognized in the feet of the SH hominins. The SH hominins and Neandertals display tali with short necks and broad lateral malleolar facets, broad calcanei with long bodies and projected sustentaculum tali, stout naviculars, as well as robust metatarsals and phalanges. Nevertheless, the feet from SH are characterized by a very
broad lateral malleolar facet in the talus and a very broad sustentaculum tali in the calcaneus, even more so than in Neandertals with respect to both traits. More importantly, the head of the talus from SH is narrower than the Neandertal's broad talus head, and the short intermediate cuneiforms found at SH distinguish them from the other comparative samples. The bodymass estimation based on the trochlear breadth of the talus provides a mean of 69.7 ± 10.0 kg for the SH hominins, similar to that determined by the femoral head
and significantly lower than that obtained from the bi-iliac breadth.

This paper presents and describes new foot fossils from the species Homo antecessor, found in level TD6 of the site of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). These new fossils consist of an almost complete left talus (ATD6-95) and the proximal three-quarters of a right fourth metatarsal (ATD6-124). The talus ATD6-95 is tentatively assigned to Hominin 10 of the TD6 sample, an adult male specimen with which the second metatarsal ATD6-70þ107 (already published) is also tentatively associated. Analysis of these fossils and other postcranial remains has made possible to estimate a stature similar to those of the specimens from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). The morphology of the TD6 metatarsals does not differ significantly from that of modern humans, Neanderthals and the specimens from Sima de los Huesos. Talus ATD6-95, however, differs from the rest of the comparative samples in being long and high, having a long and wide trochlea, and displaying a proportionally short neck.

Stature estimation is a standard procedure in the fields of forensic and biological anthropology, bioarchaeology and paleoanthropology, in order to gain biological insights into the individuals/populations studied. The most accurate stature estimation method is based on anatomical reconstruction (i.e., the
Fully method), followed by type I regression equations (e.g., ordinary least squares – OLS) based on long bones, preferably from the lower limb. In some cases, due to the fragmentary nature of the osseous material recovered, stature estimates have to rely on other elements, such as foot remains. In this study, we explore stature estimation based on different foot bones: the talus, calcaneus, and metatarsals 1–4 in Afro- and Euroamericans of both sexes. The approach undertaken in this study is novel for two reasons. First, individual estimates for each bone are provided, and tarsals and metatarsals are combined in order to obtain more accurate estimates. Second, robust statistical methods based on type I regression equations are used, namely least trimmed squares (LTS). Our results show that the best individual bones
for estimating stature are the first and second metatarsal and both the talus and the calcaneus. The combination of a tarsal and a metatarsal bone slightly improves the accuracy of the stature estimate.

This paper presents and describes new foot fossils from the species Homo antecessor, found in level TD6 of the site of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). These new fossils consist of an almost complete left talus (ATD6-95) and the proximal three-quarters of a right fourth metatarsal (ATD6-124).
The talus ATD6-95 is tentatively assigned to Hominin 10 of the TD6 sample, an adult male specimen with which the second metatarsal ATD6-70þ107 (already published) is also tentatively associated. Analysis of these fossils and other postcranial remains has made possible to estimate a stature similar to those of the
specimens from the Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). The morphology of the TD6 metatarsals does not differ significantly from that of modern humans, Neanderthals and the specimens from Sima de los Huesos. Talus ATD6-95, however, differs from the rest
of the comparative samples in being long and high, having a long and wide trochlea, and displaying a proportionally short neck.

Background: Pelvic bone has important sex determining features. However, anthropometric reference values vary by study population. This study aimed to determine the accuracy of subpubic angle for sex determination and height estimation in Iranian adults. Methods: In this study, the subpubic angle in the digital pelvic radiographs of 325 Iranian adults (199 males and 126 females) and their standing heights were measured. Then, the relation of subpubic angle with sex and stature was evaluated. Results: The mean(SD) subpubic angle of the studied population was 116.3 (23.7) degrees. Subpubic angle was significantly wider (P<0.001) in females [140.5(14.3) degrees] compared to males [101.0(13.3) degrees]. Moreover, we observed a significant decrease (P<0.001) in females' subpubic angle with an increase in age. A significant reverse correlation (P<0.01) was also observed between the subpubic angle and height (r=0.416). Conclusion: This study showed that the mean subpubic angle...