A Comparison of the Krapina Lower Facial Remains to an Ontogenetic Series of Neandertal Fossils

The Krapina facial remains are associated with the Neandertals based on a number of descriptive morphological traits, but the degree to which these fossils correspond to the morphology of other Neandertals has largely been assumed rather than explicitly examined. One reason initially was the dearth of an ontogenetic series of Neandertal nonadults. Since Gorjanović- Kramberger discovered Krapina over100 years ago, additional Neandertal fossils in Israel, France, Belgium, Italy and Uzbekistan have been recovered. Here the Krapina remains are compared to a large ontogenetic series of Neandertal adults, subadults, juveniles and infants (n = 41). Growth trajectories of Neandertal lower facial traits are used to assess the absolute growth of traits at Krapina. Principal components analyses, done separately for the lower maxilla and mandible, demonstrate some relationships between Krapina fossils and other Neandertals based on multiple traits. The results demonstrate that, compared to other Neandertals, Krapina nonadults exhibit long palates, and adults exhibit both tall and short mandibular symphyses, thickened mandibular corpora, short to mid-range ascending rami and relatively long mandibles. The alveolar process and lower piriform aperture are within the range of other Neandertals. The remains at Krapina record important growth signals characterizing late juvenile and subadult Neandertal ontogeny–life cycle stages that are largely absent from the Neandertal fossil record