Researchers have reconstructed a crushed skull from a neanderthal who lived about 75 thousand years ago. They found the remains in the Shanidar cave in Kurdistan Iraqi. The Neanderthal found was called Shanidar Z, in reference to the name of the cave.
Reconstructed face of Shanidar Z Photograph: University of Cambridge/Reproduction
Analysis of the site suggests that the ancient Neanderthal had a stone behind her head, as if it were a pillow, and one of her hands curled up against her face. She was laid to rest in a ravine formed by running water, which was further excavated to accommodate her body.
Illustration of possible position of how Shanidar was buried Photograph: Cambridge/Emma Pomeroy
The remains of Shanidar Z are highlighted in the documentary on Netflix Secrets of the Neanderthalsproduced by the BBC, which premieres this Thursday, 2. The production follows a team led by scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Liverpool John Moore in one of the returns to the cave where the remains were found.
Scientists believe that the skull found in 2018 is actually part of an individual excavated from the same site in the early 1960s. The Shanidar Cave became famous in the 1950s, when several Neanderthals were discovered there that appear to have been buried in succession .
Shanidar Z’s body is also part of the group. But, until the discovery of the skull in 2018, it had been 50 years since anything related to this species had been found at the site.
Skull reconstruction
Shanidar Z’s skull was found crushed in cave Photograph: Cambridge/Graeme Ba
Reconstructed skull of Shanidar Z Photograph: BBC Studios/Jamie Simonds
When scientists found Shanidar Z, his skull was just two centimeters thick. It was flattened by a falling rock followed by thousands of years of sedimentation. The team had to extract Shanidar Z, which was under 7.5 meters of soil and rock in the heart of the cave, into dozens of blocks wrapped in aluminum foil.
Around 200 pieces of skulls needed to be glued to hand to return to its original shape, including the upper and lower jaw.
According to Emma Pomeroy, a paleoanthropologist at the Cambridge Department of Archeology who appears in the documentary, the bones can be very soft, as if they were a cookie wet.
“It’s like a high-stakes 3D puzzle. A single block can take more than a fortnight to process,” she says.
Emma Pomeroy works on Shanidar Z’s skull in her laboratory Photograph: Netflix/Reproduction
Afterwards, the skull’s surface was scanned and printed in 3D. With this foundation, paleoartists Adrie and Alfons Kennis built layers of muscle and skin to reveal a face.
New analysis from the teeth suggests that Shanidar Z was in his 40s, a young age for prehistoric times. There were no Neanderthal pelvic bones, so the team also analyzed tooth proteins to determine sex. Its size, around 1.5 meters, also indicates that it was female.
Kennis Brothers Examine 3D Printing of Shanidar Z’s Skull Photograph: Disclosure/Cambridge
What do Neanderthal skulls look like?
Neanderthals became extinct 40,000 years ago, and little is left of them for study and research. “Neanderthal skulls have large superciliary arches and lack of chins, with a projected medium face that results in more prominent noses,” explains Emma Pomeroy.
The skulls of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals are quite different. But the recreation of Shanidar Z’s face suggests that these differences were not so striking. This makes it easier to see how the interbreeding of the two species got to the point where almost all humans alive today have DNA Neanderthal.
Neanderthals: empathetic beings
One of the bodies found in the 1960 Shanidar cave was covered in ancient pollen, which could mean that the individual had been placed in a bed of flowers after death. This archaeological work was the first to suggest that Neanderthals were much more complex than previously thought.
View of Shanidar cave entrance Photograph: Cambridge/Graeme Bar
However, a study published last year led by Liverpool John Moore University professor Chris Hunt claims that the pollen came from bees digging the cave floor, not burial flowers. Remnants in the cave show other empathetic forms of Neanderthals.
One of those buried, for example, had a paralyzed arm, deafness and head trauma, but lived for a long time. Therefore, the hypothesis is that he received care.
“We can see that Neanderthals are returning to a particular place to bury their dead. This can be decades or even a thousand years apart. Is it coincidence or is it intentional and what makes them return?” reflects paleo-anthropologist Emma Pomeroy.
