New Insights into the Bear Skulls from Windener Brenhhle - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

▶
new insights into the bear skulls from windener b renh
SMART_READER_LITE
LIVE PREVIEW

New Insights into the Bear Skulls from Windener Brenhhle - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Nov 14, 2023 177 likes •567 views

New Insights into the Bear Skulls from Windener Brenhhle (Burgenland, Austria) Gerhard Withalm & Stefan Meng ICBS 2009, Spi ska Nova Vs, Slovakia The Windener Brenhhle (2911/1) ICBS 2009, Spi ska Nova Vs, Slovakia

slide-1
SLIDE 1

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • New Insights into the Bear Skulls from

Windener Bärenhöhle (Burgenland, Austria)

Gerhard Withalm & Stefan Meng

slide-2
SLIDE 2

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Windener Bärenhöhle (2911/1)
slide-3
SLIDE 3

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Windener Bärenhöhle (2911/1)
slide-4
SLIDE 4

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Windener Bärenhöhle - Groundmap
slide-5
SLIDE 5

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Introduction

There are two bear skulls from Windener Bärenhöhle (Burgenland, Austria), which repeatedly occur in the relevant literature because of their interesting morphology. These skulls were excavated during the 30ies of the last century and were first described by Kurt EHRENBERG (1938) and firstly referred to – in doubt – as Ursus spelaeus in an article on the excavations in Windener Bärenhöhle. Based on their flat skull (missing glabella), their dentition and their supposed Late Pleistocene age he concluded, that these skulls must have belonged to a hybrid between cave- and brown bear or, less likely, to a not yet fully developed cave bear. KOBY (1944) rejected the hybridization-hypothesis of Ehrenberg. Later

  • n these skulls were reviewed in an article on Austrian cave bears and

their problems, published by SPAHNI in 1954. In this article he attributed these skulls to U. spelaeus, regardless of their morphology.

slide-6
SLIDE 6

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Introduction

Later on THENIUS (1956) reviewed the material and referred the skulls to Ursus arctos priscus Goldfuss, a member of the brown bear group, which was the state of knowledge until 2004. In the sense of THENIUS (1956) U. a. priscus is a big brown bear that coexisted with the cave bear group during Late Pleistocene, equipped with several characters that remind us on members of the cave bear

  • group. Moreover it is distinguishable from fossil and extant brown bears

by its morphology as well as its ecological needs. There are also some similarities with brown bears from Asia, especially with U. a. piscator and

  • U. a. isabellinus.

Ursus arctos priscus (GOLDFUSS) is possibly synonymous with U. taubachensis RODE and with U. a. nemoralis (DEGERBØL).

slide-7
SLIDE 7

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Introduction

To resolve the problem of these skulls, Prof. Rabeder decided to ask Michael Hofreiter if he would be interested in this subject and he agreed. In 2004 the skulls were analyzed by means of palaeo-DNA-analysis, which was carried out by Michael Hofreiter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany). The results of this work lead to the attribution of these skulls to a typical Ursus arctos, interestingly of the West-group. So the systematic position

  • f these skulls is clear by now.
slide-8
SLIDE 8

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Dimensions of Skulls

Definition 380 330 262 322 207 180 139 179 173 150 123 143 215 189 150 182 186 170 130 163 81 71 66 69 34 33 33 33 106 94 76 89 33 28 34 37 56 48 44 50 Distance Skull 1 Skull 2

  • U. arctos
  • U. arctos

Serbia, IPUW Bosnia, IPUW

Basilar length (prosthion – basion) Cranial length (basion – postdentale) Facial length (prosthion – postdentale) Palatal length (prosthion – staphylion) Width of mastoid Width of condyli occipitales Width of foramen magnum Occipital height (basion – acrocranium) Diastemal length Palatal width (behind staphylion, min.)

Abbreviation: IPUW – Intitute of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, data from THENIUS (1956:157)

slide-9
SLIDE 9

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Methods

The specimens were scanned at the Department of Radiology of the Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Spital, a hospital in the southern part of Vienna, with a dual source, multi-slice CT scanner (Somatom Definition, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany). The examinations were carried out during helical scanning (80 kVp, 160 mAseff) using a 20 x 0.6 mm detector configuration and a table feed of 8.4 mm per rotation. Axial sections were reconstructed every 0.3 mm with a section thickness of 0.6 mm. Three-dimensional post-processing was performed with the Osirix 3.5.1, 64 bit (Antoine Rosset, Joris Heuberger) software on a Mac Pro Dual Quad-Core workstation (Apple Inc.).

slide-10
SLIDE 10

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Siemens Somatom Definition

Photo: Siemens

slide-11
SLIDE 11

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Homo sapiens: The frontal Sinuses

Photo: Grey's Anatomy, p. 159

slide-12
SLIDE 12

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Frontal Sinuses of a Hog

Preparation+ Photo: Uwe Gille

slide-13
SLIDE 13

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Hyaena: The (frontal) Sinuses

3D reconstruction in sagittal section of extant Hyaena hyaena. Scan: VU-Wien, Insitut für Bildgebende Diagnostik, Dr. Elisabeth Mayrhofer, RTA: S. Dengg

slide-14
SLIDE 14

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • A Bear for Comparison:

Ursus thibetanus japonicus

slide-15
SLIDE 15

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Ursus thibetanus: 3D reconstruction
slide-16
SLIDE 16

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Ursus thibetanus: 3D, cutoff
slide-17
SLIDE 17

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • What are sinuses good for?

To warm the air for breathing. To insulate against cold or high temperatures. To make a more impressive voice (resonance). To extend the area for the insertion of M. masseter. To provide weight reduction for the skull. To provide a little of all of the aforementioned. To …

slide-18
SLIDE 18

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Premises

There is an observable difference in the construction of

sinuses between brown- and cave bears.

Brown bears usually do not have sinuses extending into

the ossa parietalia, thus not covering the brain cavity.

Cave bears usually have sinuses extending into the ossa

parietalia, covering the brain cavity up to two third of its
 a/p length.

The relatively smallest sinuses can be found in Ursus

maritimus.

slide-19
SLIDE 19

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Another Bear for Comparison:

Ursus ingressus ex Medvedia jaskýna

slide-20
SLIDE 20

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Sutura coronalis

Sutura squamosa Sutura lambdoidea Sutura frontomaxillaris Meatus acusticus externus Sutura nasomaxillaris Sutura zygomaticomaxillaris Cellula sinus frontalis

Ursus ingressus ex Medvedia jaskýna

slide-21
SLIDE 21

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Ursus ingressus ex Medvedia jaskýna
slide-22
SLIDE 22

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Ursus ingressus ex Medvedia jaskýna
slide-23
SLIDE 23

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Ursus ingressus ex Medvedia jaskýna

Sutura frontalis Sutura squamosa Sutura zygomaticomaxillaris Sutura nasomaxillaris Sutura lambdoidea Sutura frontomaxillaris Sutura coronalis Septum intersinuale frontale Apertura sinus frontalis

slide-24
SLIDE 24

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Bear Skulls from

Windener Bärenhöhle

slide-25
SLIDE 25

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Big Skull in Lateral View

ex: THENIUS, 1956:Taf. 1

slide-26
SLIDE 26

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Big Skull in Basilar View

ex: THENIUS, 1956:Taf. 1

slide-27
SLIDE 27

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Description

The skulls are flat, i.e. there is nothing like a glabella.

Many extant brown bears have a more domed forehead.

Only the skull of U. maritimus shows an even flatter

profile.

The occlusal surfaces of the teeth are more intensely

folded than in an extant brown bears.

Their size is impressive.

slide-28
SLIDE 28

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Big Skull: 3D-Reconstruction
slide-29
SLIDE 29

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Big Skull: 3D, transparent
slide-30
SLIDE 30

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Big Skull: 3D, transparent, cut off
slide-31
SLIDE 31

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The small skull: sagittal section
slide-32
SLIDE 32

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Small Skull: 3D, transparent
slide-33
SLIDE 33

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Small Skull: 3D, transparent, cut off
slide-34
SLIDE 34

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Small Skull, sliced.
slide-35
SLIDE 35

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • The Small Skull: 3D, cutoff
slide-36
SLIDE 36

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Ursus ingressus vs. Ursus arctos
slide-37
SLIDE 37

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • Conclusions

We do not know enough about construction and

functionality of the sinuses within fossil and extant ursids.

More information about morphology of sinuses should be

collected whenever and wherever possible.

It's probably time for a cooperation with (veterinary)

medicine to enlighten the functionality of sinuses.

slide-38
SLIDE 38

ICBS 2009, Spišska Nova Vés, Slovakia

  • That's all.

That's all. Thanks for your attention! Thanks for your attention!