Scientists uncover face of Neanderthal who lived 75,000 years ago

(CNN) — A Neanderthal woman, about 40 years old, was found buried in a cave 75,000 years ago, after her body was dug up and deposited in a ravine. His left hand was folded beneath his head and it is possible that a stone was placed behind his head as a pillow.

The woman, known as Shanidar Jade, after the cave in Iraqi Kurdistan where she was found in 2018, was a Neanderthal, a type of ancient human that disappeared about 40,000 years ago.

Scientists studying his remains painstakingly reconstructed his skull from 200 bone fragments, a process that took nine months. He used the shape of the face and skull to recreate its appearance.

The astonishing recreation appears in the new documentary “Secrets of the Neanderthals”, produced by the BBC for Netflix and available to stream from this Thursday.

With pronounced brow ridges and no chin, the Neanderthal skull looks different from that of our species, Homo sapiens, explains Dr Emma Pomeroy, paleontologist and associate professor in the Department of Archeology at the University of Cambridge, who unearthed the skeleton and revealed new thin layers. According to Pomeroy, facial reconstructions of Shanidar Z suggest that these differences may not have been so pronounced in life.

“There is some artistic license, but ultimately it’s about the real skull and the real data about what we know about these people,” he explained.

“He actually has a pretty big face for his size,” Pomeroy said. “She has very big eyebrows, which we don’t normally see, but I think wearing modern clothes you probably wouldn’t look twice.”

Neanderthals lived in the mountains of Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia for about 300,000 years, overlapping with modern humans for about 30,000 years. Analysis of the DNA of modern humans has shown that, during this time, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens occasionally met and interbred.

new analysis

When Pomeroy first excavated the skeleton, its gender was unclear because only the upper half of the body was preserved. It lacked pelvic bones. The team that initially studied the remains relied on the relatively new technology of sequencing proteins inside tooth enamel to determine the sex of Shanidar Z, which is revealed for the first time in the documentary.

Researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Liverpool estimated the specimen’s height at 1.5 meters by comparing the length and diameter of its arm bones with data on modern humans. Analysis of wear on teeth and bones revealed that he was approximately 40 years old at the time of his death.

“It’s a reasonable estimate, but we can’t really be 100% certain that they weren’t much older,” Pomeroy said. “What we can say is that this is someone who has lived a relatively long life. To that society, they would probably have been quite important in terms of their knowledge, their life experience.”

The cave where Shanidar Ze was buried is well known among archaeologists because a Neanderthal grave discovered there in 1960 led researchers to believe that Neanderthals would have buried their dead with flowers, contrary to the prevailing view. The first challenge was that the ancient people were fools and animals. However, subsequent research by Pomeroy’s team has cast doubt on this theory.

Instead, they suspect that the pollen found among the graves may have come via pollinating bees.

Over the years, scientists have found more and more evidence of Neanderthal intelligence, sophistication, and complexity, such as art, ropes, and tools.

Neanderthals returned repeatedly to Shanidar Cave to bury their dead. Research has found the remains of 10 Neanderthals found at the site, half of which appear to have been deliberately buried one after another.

Research suggests that Neanderthals may not have honored their dead with bouquets, but the inhabitants of Shanidar Cave were probably an empathetic species. For example, a male Neanderthal buried there was deaf and had one arm paralyzed and a head injury that probably left him partially blind; However, he lived a long time, so according to the investigation, he may have received care.

According to Pomeroy, Shanidar Z is the first Neanderthal found in the cave in more than 50 years, but there may be more discoveries to be made at the site. While filming the documentary in 2022, Pomeroy found the left shoulder blade, some rib bones, and the right hand of another Neanderthal.

He said, “I think our interpretation at this point is that these are actually probably the remains of a single individual who has then been interred.”

skull reconstruction

Pomeroy described the reconstruction of Shanidar Z’s skull, which was crushed shortly after his death, as a “high-level 3D puzzle”. The fossilized bones were hardened with a glue-like substance, removed from the cave in small blocks of sediment and wrapped in aluminum foil before being sent to the University of Cambridge for analysis by researchers.

In the Cambridge laboratory, researchers took micro-CT scans of each block and used the scanner to guide the removal of bone fragments. Pomeroy’s colleague and archaeological conservator at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (Spain), Dr. Lucia López-Polín, reconstructed more than 200 skull fragments from the eyes to return them to their original shape.

The team scanned and 3D printed the reconstructed skull, which became the basis for a reconstructed head created by Danish paleoartists Adre and Alfons Kenis, twin brothers who recreated layers of muscle and skin to reveal the face of Shanidar Z. : Presented.

Pomeroy said the reconstruction “helped bridge the gap between anatomy and what happened 75,000 years ago.”