Neanderthals breathing with powerful lungs, 3D reconstruction shows | Smart News

Recent research has shown that Neanderthals, once denigrated as our primitive, rogue cousins, have much in common with humans today. They hunted in groups, mastered fire technology and even created art. However, with respect to the structure of their skeleton, Neanderthals may have been very different from humans anatomically modern in some respects – but not the way scientists previously thought.

Neanderthals are often described as curved, with barrel vaults. Two years ago, an international team of researchers created a virtual 3D reconstruction of the spine of Kebara 2, an adult male specimen discovered in Israel in 1983, one of the most comprehensive Neanderthal skeletons known to scientists. The study showed not only that the Neanderthals had a upright posture, but also that their spines were straighter than those of modern humans.

Now, as Frankie Schembri reports for Science, the researchers are back with a three-dimensional reconstruction of the chest or thorax of Kebara 2, which includes the ribs, the upper part of the spine and vital organs like the lungs and heart. The results of the team study, published in Nature Communications, suggest that the Neanderthal chests were about the same size as ours, but had important differences that allowed for greater lung capacity.

For anthropologists, understanding the structure of the thorax is essential because it helps to better understand the movement and respiration of ancient specimens. But often, the delicate bones of the ribs and spine do not survive or are too fragile to handle. Rather than attempting a risky physical reconstruction of Kebara 2, the researchers painstakingly computed tomography (computed tomography) of each vertebral and rib fragment and collected the data in a 3D model. They also compared the reconstruction to the medical scans of 16 modern men in Israel, according to PBS.

The team's model showed that the ribs of Kebara 2 were connected to the spine inward, pushing the chest cavity outward and causing a slight tilt of the vertebral column backwards. The reconstruction also reaffirmed that the Neanderthal spines were straight; In fact, Kebara 2 seems to have had very little lumbar curve, unlike modern humans.

The rib cage of Kebara 2 was wider at the bottom than ours, but not larger – "one of the great surprises of the study," says Asier Gómez-Olivencia, author of the study and researcher at the University of the Basque Country Colin Barras of New scientist. Neanderthals were more stocky than modern humans, and[h]The heavier bodies require higher calorie intake and higher oxygen consumption, "explains Gómez-Olivencia. Scientists had assumed that Neanderthals had relatively large chests to accommodate relatively large lungs. But that does not seem to have been the case.

The broad lower thorax of Kebara 2 suggests instead that Neanderthal breathing is largely based on the contraction of the diaphragm, located in the lower rib cage. "Modern humans, on the other hand, depend on both the diaphragm and the extension of the ribcage to be able to breathe," says study author Ella Been of the Ono Academic College of Israel. The shape of the rib cage of Kebara 2 suggests that its diaphragm was large compared to that of modern humans, which would have allowed for greater lung capacity.

The study raises interesting questions about how the unique breathing mechanism of Neanderthals helped them survive in their environment. Additional research is needed, but for now, the paper shows how modern technologies can be used to paint a more accurate picture of an extinct and often misunderstood species.

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