Abstrakt
A Neanderthal endocast, naturally formed by travertine within the crater of a thermal spring was found at Ganovce, near Poprad (Slovakia), in 1926, and dated to 105 ka. The endocast is partially covered by fragments of the braincase.
The volume of the endocast was estimated to be 1320 cc. The endocast was first studied by the Czech paleoanthropologist Emanuel Vlcek, who performed metric and morphological analyses which suggested its Neanderthal origin.
Vlcek published his works more than fifty years ago, but the fossil is scarcely known to the general paleoanthropological community, probably because of language barriers. Here, we review the historical and anatomical information available on the endocasts, providing additional paleoneurological assessments on its features.
The endocast displays typical Neanderthal traits, and its overall appearance is similar to Guattari 1, mostly because of the pronounced frontal width and occipital bulging. The morphology of the Ganovce specimen suggests once more that the Neanderthal endocranial phenotype had already evolved at 100 ka.
