A CASE OF MARKED BILATERAL ASYMMETRY IN THE UPPER LIMBS OF AN UPPER PALEOLITHIC MALE FROM BARMA GRANDE (LIGURIA), ITALY

Barma Grande 2, a male skeleton of upper palaeolithic age from Balzi R ossi (Liguria, Italy), shows a marked degree of upper limb bilateral a symmetry. Similar cases of asymmetry in palaeolithic hominid fossils h ave variously been attributed to high levels of behavioural asymmetry (related to handedness) or a pathologically induced alteration of uppe r limb skeletal remodelling processes, As in many of these cases, the skeleton from Barma Grande lacks any indications of trauma or patholog y in the smaller left limb, Consideration of the morphology of the pre served upper limb elements and a comparative analysis of asymmetry in normal and pathological male palaeolithic fossils and normal recent hu man samples suggests that the asymmetry in Barma Grande 2 was a second ary effect of trauma or pathology in the left side. The degree and pat tern of asymmetry in numerous humeral and ulnar measurements indicates an adult onset of altered loading patterns, Several possible aetiolog ical factors are considered, with the most probable being an entrapmen t neuropathy, direct trauma to one or more muscles about the shoulder, or possibly glenohumeral joint instability.