Preliminary analysis of the Mesolithic human juvenile skeletons from Vela Spila, Korčula

Within the Mesolithic layers of Vela Spila cave on the island of Korčula, Eastern Adriatic, the remains of four human juvenile skeletons have been recovered during the excavations in the late 1980s (Čečuk and Radić, 2001, 2005). One of the juvenile skeletons has been directly carbon dated to c. 9000 B.P. (Miracle pers. comm. from Wallduck, 2009). Four juvenile skeletons are all of different ages, all 6 to 12 months apart, starting with the fetus that is estimated to be 7 to 9 months in utero at the time of death (Šlaus, 2004). Considering their exceptional preservation and the nature of the sample containing children remains at different ontogenetic stage, the Vela Spila juveniles can thus provide invaluable insight into the developmental changes and the biology of the population living during the transition from hunter-gatherer to sedentary lifestyle. This paper’s goal is to: 1) present a preliminary analysis of the juvenile remains from Vela Spila, and 2) compare the Vela Spila specimens to the juvenile remains of Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and more recent juvenile remains from the Eastern Mediterranean region and Central Europe.