Published by University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1991
Seller: The Book Collector, Inc. ABAA, ILAB, Fort Worth, TX, U.S.A.
Magazine / Periodical First Edition
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 118-138 pages with photographs and cited references. Current Anthropology Volume 32, Number 2 complete issue. First edition. The Neandertal cranium (Circeo I) from Guattari Cave at Monte Circeo has, in the 50 years since its discovery, become an icon for Neandertal mortuary practices. The isolated nature of the specimen, its basal fragmentation, and its context have led many to conclude that Neandertals practiced mortuary ritual at Monte Circeo in the late Pleistocene. Our work on recent Native American skeletal remains attributed to cannibalism and on an extensive collection of trophy skulls from Melanesia housed at the University of Rome has revealed characteristic signatures of human manipulation. Our study of the original fossil shows that most fracture on the Circeo specimen was prehistoric but that no unambiguous evidence of hominid modification to the Neandertal cranium exists. Observed damage patterns are more typical of nonhuman agents. The hypothesis of ritual cannibalism at Grotta Guattari s unsupported by our findings. Condition: Edge wear, corners bumped and rubbed else very good.