The morphology of European and Southwest Asian Neandertal pubic bones.

Descriptions of Southwest Asian Neandertal os coxae have stressed the supero-inferior flattening and acetabulo-symphyseal elongation of the superior pubic rami. Further analysis of Neandertal pubes, including two European specimens. La Ferrassie I and Krapina 208, indicates that Neandertal pubes are distinguished primarily by a relative elongation of the superior rami. The supero-inferior flattening of the pubic rami with the formation of a distinct ventral border, present among the Southwest Asian Neandertals, is less pronounced among the European Neandertals. Neither sexual dimorphism nor biomechanical hypertrophy appears adequate to explain this morphological pattern of Neandertal pubic bones.