The article introduces the phalanx of a representative of the genus Homo from Denisova cave in Altai. The fragment was located in the 11th layer, where anthropological material for isolating paleoDNA from a previously unknown hominin had already been found. In this work, the proximal phalanx of the left foot of the fourth or fifth ray of a presumably adult individual was studied and identified. The Denisova cave bone is relatively elongated, with a very massive and wide diaphysis. Demonstrating an unquestionable belonging to a representative of "archaic morphology", this phalanx occupies an intermediate position in terms of a complex of anatomical features between the corresponding elements of the Neanderthal skeleton and early anatomically modern humans. The dorso-proximal orientation of the metatarsal facet of the base of the phalanx indicates a characteristic mode of movement - like sports walking.
Keywords: evolutionary anthropology, Altai hominin, Denisova cave, proximal foot phalanx, postcranial morphology.
Introduction
Denisova Cave, continuously explored in the last quarter of a century, is the most studied in Northern Asia. The findings from it allow us to trace the changes in the material complex created by the inhabitants of Gorny Altai 280-10 thousand years AGO [Derevyanko, 2009, p. 10]. Here, in Southern Siberia, during the entire period from the early Middle to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, the stone industry evolved, and there is no evidence in archaeological materials of the arrival of people with a different culture to this territory [Ibid.].
Materials from the excavations of the 11th cultural layer of Denisova Cave, divided into five habitat horizons, reflect the transition to the Upper Paleolithic. According to a series of radiocarbon dates obtained in different laboratories, this process occurred between 50 and 40 thousand years AGO [Ibid., pp. 12, 13]. More precisely, for the lower part of the layer, a date of 48,650 ± 2,380/1,840 years (KIA ...
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