[Classification of a 300,000-year-old dental crown of the upper loamy deposit of the Bad Canstatter travertine zone]. / Klassifizierung einer 300.000 Jahre alten Zahnkrone aus dem oberen Lehmhorizont des Bad-Cannstatter Travertin.

ABSTRACT

Hominid dental remains were recovered in association with fossil bones and artifacts during systematic excavations in a loamy deposit located between the two travertine zones T4 and T5 at Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Southwest Germany. Direct dating of a hominid tooth crown with thermoluminescence resulted in a date of 300 kya, which is in agreement with the Holstein Interglacial floral and faunal composition of this layer. The specimen is a lower left canine with hypoplastic morphology. This interpretation is supported by thorough assessment of its overall morphology, comparative metric evaluation, and by scanning electron microscopy analyses of the enamel prisms. Additional microstructural comparison of these dental remains with a tooth from the same site, but derived from a Cervidae specimen supported the distinct differences between both teeth. Here we discuss both the classification and significance of the specimen's evolutionary position as well as compare this specimen with stomatologic results from previous palaeopathological research.