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Oase 2 also presents apparently independent features that are, at best, unusual for a modern human, whether the reference sample is of preceding MPMH or EUP and MUP modern humans.
Despite the high and rounded sagittal parietal arc, the sagittal frontal arc is long and exceptionally flat. The Oase 2 frontal bone arc versus chord residual is below those of all of the early modern human crania; it falls in the middle of the Neandertal range of variation despite the absence of a supraorbital torus (Fig. 5). In combination with its highly curved parietal arc, it is exceptional for an early modern human and is closest to the Shanidar 1 Neandertal. No deformational process can explain this pattern because no postdepositional distortion was observed on any part of the cranium, all of the cranial vault fragments fit perfectly, and no trace of artificial deformation was noticed. Among the early modern humans, Oase 2 is most closely approached by Cioclovina 1 (frontal arc/chord residual: −5.6) and secondarily by Nazlet Khater 2 (−4.3) and Skhul 5 (−4.3, although it has a supraorbital torus)
