AN ADOLESCENT FEMALE NEANDERTHAL MANDIBLE FROM MONTGAUDIER CAVE, CHARENTE, FRANCE

In 1974, an incomplete human mandible was discovered in the site of Mo ntgaudier Cave, along the Tardoire (Charente), France. The mandible wa s found in association with stone tools and animal bones in geological deposits referable to the very end of the Middle Pleistocene or the b eginning of the Upper Pleistocene. The mandible preserves much of the anterior part of the body and three permanent teeth: left lateral inci sor, canine and first molar. Estimates based on tooth eruption of mode rn humans, as well as occlusal wear and root development, suggest an a ge at death of between 12.5 and 14.5 years. Morphologically, the fossi l posse;ses features, such as a lack of a chin and multiple mental for amina, which have been observed on immature Neandertal mandibular spec imens from Europe. Comparison with these immature European Neandertals indicates that the jaw and teeth of the Montgaudier mandible are smal l for its chronological age, suggesting it was that of a female. (C) 1 997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.