Virtual reconstruction of a 32,000-year-old ulna from Cro-Magnon (Dordogne, France)

In 1868, human remains morphologically similar to recent humans were discovered by workers at Cro-Magnon (Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, France). These fossils were considered as representative of the oldest European Homo sapiens, making Cro-Magnon one of the most famous archeological sites in the World. Despite this, the fact that the human remains have been commingled since 1868 is not familiar to the general public, nor to the scientific community. Various attempts have been made to reassociate the bones by individuals, but a consensus has been lacking. Therefore, in order to reassess the minimum number of individuals at Cro-Magnon, to re allocate the skeletal elements to subjects, and provide reliable associated portions of skeletons to analyze their paleobiology, our team has studied these remains using a multiproxy approach, combining external morphology and virtual anthropology.
The use of virtual anthropology in particular has enabled us to mirror image bones or portions of bone to verify associations and provide more complete assessments of the Cro-Magnon remains. In addition, given curatorial concerns after 150+ years of handling and degradation of the fragile bones, the virtual approach enables manipulations and reconstructions otherwise not possible.
This video presents the virtual reconstruction of a badly reconstructed left ulna (likely done at the end of the XIXth century). This illustrate how virtual anthropology may help curators to restore bones without further damaging the fragile fossils.
To learn more about the biological profiles of the Cro-Magnon individuals, please check:
doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020...
doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018...
doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020...
doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021...