Scientists have discovered why Neanderthals were stronger and more robust people

Everything is in the bone structure.An international team of researchers reconstructed the rib cage of a Neanderthal and discovered how a former parent of the person was walking and breathing. The data shows that Neanderthals were walking in the fork, as previously thought, according to Science Alert, reports Chronicle.info referring to the correspondent.

Anthropologist Patricia Kramer and her colleagues studied the remains of Moses – the Neanderthal discovered in a Kebar cave in Israel in 1983. Due to the unique burial conditions, her bones were preserved almost intact.

The team focused its research on the area of ​​the body that includes the chest, spine and cavity of the heart and lungs. This part of the body is of particular importance because it can tell us about breathing and balance.

The crest of the old man "drowned" in the thorax is deeper than in modern man, the bottom of the ribs have been enlarged and the lumbar curvature was not it. According to the researchers, with the spine, the Neanderthals could only walk straight, and the chest very wide covered voluminous. As a result, the Neanderthals breathed deeper, consuming more oxygen.

"Wide at the bottom of the Neanderthal's ribcage and the horizontal orientation of the ribs suggests that Neanderthals were relying more on their diaphragm to breathe," says one of the authors of the study, Ella Beane of Tel Aviv University.

Neanderthals' peculiarities are stronger and more robust – they allow a more efficient use of the muscles thanks to the innate ability to consume more oxygen.

About the author

Jan Hartman

Jan Hartman has been a writer since 2013. Before that, she wrote about the young teens and the family dynamics of Styles. She was a correspondent for the legal affairs of the metro.
Before joining The Sivertelegram, Jan Hartman was an editor at Village Voice and freelancer for Newsday, the Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella.