Nonpathological Asymmetry in LB1 ('Homo floresiensis'): A Reply to Eckhardt and Henneberg

Abstract

Eckhardt and Henneberg's commentary contains several omissions and misstatements. First, changes due to postmortem distortion, erosion, and fracture of skeletal elements from archaeological contexts may be confused with evidence of disease or trauma. The LB1 'Homo floresiensis' skeleton was recovered from a depth of ~6 m, in sector VII, from Liang Bua cave (Morwood et al., 2004). The skull was found resting on its base, with the associated mandible disarticulated, rotated 180° and pressing against the right zygomatic arch. The bone was damp, somewhat chalky and extremely soft, and the left frontofacial region and posterior frontal were damaged during discovery. The skull was removed in a block of sediment and taken to Jakarta (Brown et al., 2004). Cleaning, reconstruction, and preliminary conservation of the skull were undertaken by one of us (PB). On removing the surrounding sediment, it was apparent that the right half of the coronal suture had sprung open postmortem, the right zygomatic arch was distorted, the cranial vault was full of cracks, and the right parietal was slightly distorted (see Fig. 1). In other words, taphonomic distortion partially contributed to the asymmetry seen in LB1's skull.