Sunghir 1

T.I. Alexeeva:

There exist various views among physical anthropologists regarding race formation. Albeit, there is a feeling of agreement among the anthropologists who studied the Sunghir individuals concerning their taxonomy.
The Sunghir man is peculiar and did not stem from the morphological diversity range of Upper Palaeolithic Eastern European specimens. The Sunghir man is only similar to one or another Upper Palaeolithic finds, and hardly anything more can be added to what has been already said. The finds are in most cases represented by single individuals, and the diversity of morphological characteristics could only be increased by individual variations, not to mention the fact that not all of the skulls could have been measured in full metric details.
The Sunghir brain case is close in morphology to that Predmosti specimens. The same is true for the upper facial index. However the face is significantly taller and wider, and the nasal index is much bigger, similar to those of Solutre skulls. Sunghir 5

M. M. Gerassimova:

The skull was badly preserved, as it stayed for a long time on the surface. Most part of the vault was restored by M.M.Gerassimov, while the facial skeleton was restored by the author of the present communication. The suggested reconstruction gives a general idea about the skull but does not claim great accuracy, as some of the skull fragments could not be attached to each other. There is no doubt that the skull belongs to Homo s. sapiens. Dolichocrania together with a broad and low face forms a combination of features differing from the one of Sunghir 1. The closest analogy seems to be the male skull of Kostenki II.

Sunghir 2 and Sunghir 3

T.A. Trofimova:

The boy's skull Sunghir 2 is large. Its mesocephalic cerebral cranium has pentagonal form. The superciliary arches, the relief of the bridge, the mastoid processes and occipital tuber are developed weakly. The high and narrow face is mesognathic and the alveolar part is prognathic. The nose bones project very feebly. The piriform opening is narrow and high. The orbits are low and rectangular.
The girl's skull Sunghir 3 in many aspects differs from the boy's one. It is wider and lower. The cerebral cranium is brachycephalic. Visceral cranium is wider; the face is higher, with shorter and wider projecting nose. The orbits are higher and wider.
The Sunghir boy and girl are buried in one grave. They differ greatly in complex of signs. At the same time, both skulls preserve some archaic traits. The author interprets this fact as a phenomenon of human craniologic polymorphism in the European Upper Paleolith. In author's opinion, it is possible, that the main components of modern races already existed in Paleolithic time.

Postcranial skeletons

E.N. Khrissanfova:

A number of such traits that can be seen in the Sunghir man, go back to "proto-Cro-Magnons" of the Near East, and - in retrospect - to archaic African Sapiens (Broken Hill), or even to early African Erectus (Nariokotome III). These traits are: tall stature (a reconstructed stature for the Sunghir 1 man is 180.9 cm), absolute and relative lengthening of the forearm and foreleg, a trend towards shortening of the spine, i.e. such traits that are most typical to some modern equatorial groups.

M.B.Mednikova:

To sum up, the longitudinal development and body proportions of the Sunhgir 1 are typical for representatives of the Early Upper Paleolithic and differ from the body built of Magdalenians. Sunghir 1 belongs to the group of the giant Cro-Magnon population. The extremely large length of clavicle didn't influence the estimation of the similarity of Sunghir 1 to the people of the Early Upper Paleolithic. Following the results of the principal component analysis one can see that large shoulder breadth reflects the adaptation to the cold stress. Apparently, the gradual intensification of the breadth development of the shoulder girdle, showed by Sunghir 1 (56 ° of North Latitude) and Magdalenians is not incidental. Nevertheless, there are no any specific traits, connecting Sunghir 1 and the European Neanderthals (opposite to Mousterians from Levant).

x-ray

M.B.Mednikova: Sunghir 1 and 4

To estimate the peculiar traits of inner structure in tubular bones of the adult Sunghirian, data on fossil hominids and later representatives of Homo sapiens sapiens have been used.The Sunghir 1 individual was "lighter built" than the majority of groups under comparison. The increase of compactisation index in the right femoral mid-shaft was caused by a strong thickening of the posterior wall due to hypertrophy of the external structure - the pilaster. Hence it has a completely different origin than in Homo erectus. The relatively wide medullary canal together with macroskelia contributed to a sharp increase of bone marrow cavity. This kind of structure is responsible for the adaptation to such formative factors as hypoxia and high protein level in traditional diets. In this connection it seems extremely important that the closest values of compactisation indices and morphological similarities are seen in the Bronze Age Afansyevo people who lived at high altitudes and were apparently adapted to oxygen deficit. Judging by the size of the bone marrow cavity of the humerus, Sunghir 1 is located between Arctic Mongoloids and the Afanasyevo people from Altai, which also supports the hypoxia hypothesis. On the other hand, the trend towards inner gracilisation of the skeleton is registered in the inhabitants of the ancient taiga of Southern Oleny Ostrov and in Khants - fishermen, hunters and deer-breeders well adapted to severe, extremely continental conditions of the taiga zone in Western Siberia. The higher volume of bone marrow cavity in the Sunghir man testifies to the intensity of hemopoietic function and, possibly, of heat exchange.
The main difference between the Sunghir man and the Afanasyevo people lies in the increased massiveness of the inner structure of the clavicle, and in the predominant development of the cortical layer in the left upper limb. It may be suggested that these features have functional significance and are connected with the peculiar physical activity of Upper Palaeolithic populations. Sunghir 2 and 3

The Sunghir children show an undifferentiated set of morphological characteristics when compared to later representatives of Homo sapiens sapiens. "African" proportions in lower limb structure are combined with "Arctic" ratios of arm to leg lengths and with "Hypereuropean" shoulder width. "Tropical" traits in linear body proportions are not found in the Sunghir children: their arm length to leg length ratios resemble those of ancient Indians and Arctic Mongoloids. Due to their large body size young Sunghirians are close to modern Europeoid children of the North-American continent. The main difference of the Sunghirians is their prolonged period of linear growth provided by late epiphyseal growth. Macroskelia and dolichomorphia, together with the already mentioned late appearance of synostoses, could indicate hypogonadism. However, these traits are combined with such "andromorphic" indicators as extreme values of shoulder width, increased corticalisation of the skeleton and quick attainment of definitive size. In modern humans increased levels of sex hormones, though bringing the same morphological consequences, prevent the activity of somatotropic hormone and stop diaphyseal growth, which did not happen in the Sunghir children. M.B.Mednikova:

Cross-sectional geometry of tubular bones

The cross-section in the mid-shaft of the left femur of Sunghir 1 has a shape typical for Upper Palaeolithic Cro-Magnon humans. The spherical shape of the medullary canal and the extent of pilaster development are most similar to those of Pavlov 1. Among early hominids from the Near East a similar morphological pattern is typical for Qafseh 9, 8 and Skhul 5.
Somewhat slighter development of the anterior - posterior compact layer, uniform development of lateral and medial layers together with external eurymeria produce set of traits typical for Sunghir 4 individual as compared to the Sunghir 1. According to the femoral cross-section the Sunghir 4 seems to be more similar to Pavlov 1 and contrasting different with archaic morphological variants Tabun 1 and 3, Amud 1, Shanidar 3, 5 and from classical European Neanderthals Neandertal 1, Spy 1.