Simple algorithms for the estimation of the initial number of individuals in commingled skeletal remains.

The determination of the number of individuals represented within commingled remains is based on two types of estimators, those assessing the minimum number of individuals and those assessing the most likely number of individuals. Much as the latter produce improved results, they still exhibit significant drawbacks, which are related to the misidentification of the number of pairs between the existing bilateral elements. This article addresses these problems through the use of two computer algorithms. One algorithm produces a number of potential pairs between bilateral elements and the other estimates the number of individuals in a commingled sample by incorporating the percentages of lost and altered bones into the analysis. These algorithms were validated using hypothetical and actual skeletal samples, and are more effective in comparison to any conventional estimators, particularly in cases, where the elements are poorly preserved.

The discovery of an in situ Neanderthal remain in the Bawa Yawan Rockshelter, West-Central Zagros Mountains, Kermanshah.

Neanderthal extinction has been a matter of debate for many years. New discoveries, better chronologies and genomic evidence have done much to clarify some of the issues. This evidence suggests that Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000-37,000 years before present (BP), after a period of coexistence with Homo sapiens of several millennia, involving biological and cultural interactions between the two groups. However, the bulk of this evidence relates to Western Eurasia, and recent work in Central Asia and Siberia has shown that there is considerable local variation. Southwestern Asia, despite having a number of significant Neanderthal remains, has not played a major part in the debate over extinction. Here we report a Neanderthal deciduous canine from the site of Bawa Yawan in the West-Central Zagros Mountains of Iran. The tooth is associated with Zagros Mousterian lithics, and its context is preliminary dated to between ~43,600 and ~41,500 years ago.