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Updated: Mar 18, 2026
Sampling and Pretreatment of Tooth Enamel Carbonate for Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis
Published on: August 15, 2018
Middle paleolithic human deciduous incisor from Grotta del Cavallo, Italy
Pier Francesco Fabbri1, Daniele Panetta2, Lucia Sarti3
1Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università del Salento, Via D. Birago 64, Lecce, 73100, Italy. pierfrancesco.fabbri@unisalento.it.
Objectives:
In this contribution, we present a morphological description and comparative morphometric analysis of Cavallo D, a human tooth unearthed from the Mousterian FIII sublayer of Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia, Italy).
Materials And Methods:
We used microCT data to provide a detailed morphological description and morphometric analysis of the Cavallo D human tooth based on traditional diameter measurements and 3D enamel thickness. Moreover, new AMS radiocarbon dating of charcoals from layers FII was carried out.
Results:
Morphological features observed in Cavallo D align the tooth to Neandertals. Similarly, the large size of the tooth (e.g., BL diameter) and the relatively thinner enamel thickness are typical Neandertal traits. 14 C datings of layer FII attribute the tooth to a time range of 45,600-42,900 cal BP (at 68% level of probability).
Discussion:
Up to now, the Rdi1 Cavallo D represents the most recent Neandertal human remain in southern Italy related to a radiocarbon dated stratigraphy. Moreover, since deciduous teeth have been less investigated than the permanent ones, this contribution brings new data to increase our knowledge on the variability of the Neandertal deciduous dentition.
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