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The 3D virtual reconstruction of Neanderthal coasts provides new information on the evolution of man.
Britannica / Getty Images and A. Gómez-Olivencia, A. Barash and E. Been
If the image that comes to your mind when you think that "Neanderthal" is a caveman folded on itself with a barrel-shaped chest, you may need to think again.
An international team of scientists reversed this stereotype by creating a 3D virtual reconstruction of the chest of a 60,000-year-old male Neanderthal skeleton. It turns out that not only did these ancient, primitive humans stand upright, with straight spines, but that they also had a breast of similar size, but a higher lung capacity, than that of humans. aujourd & # 39; hui.
Scientists have long wondered about the shape of Neanderthal chests and how they absorbed the largest amounts of oxygen needed to power their heavier bodies under the harsh conditions of the last ice age. Neanderthals died about 40,000 years ago – but not before crossing with early Homo sapiens, or modern humans.
Researchers from Spain, Israel and the United States conducted the new study using the most complete Neanderthal skeleton (also spelled Neanderthal) uncovered to date. Known as Kebara 2, or "Moshe", the skeleton was discovered in the early 1980s in northern Israel. In a previous study, the same team had created a virtual model of Moshe's spine.
A virtual reconstruction thorax of Kebara 2. The blue color is to highlight the ribs and sternum
A. Gómez-Olivencia, A. Barash and E. Been
"The shape of the thorax is essential to understand the movements of the Neanderthals in their environment because it informs us about their breathing and their balance," said Asier Gomez-Olivencia of the University of the Basque Country in Spain, said in a release press.
Many Neanderthal remains have been found on sites in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, but "the ribs and vertebrae are fragile and have a limited fossil record," Gomez-Olivencia told New Scientist. To fill this gap, scientists had suggested to Neanderthals to have bigger chests than modern humans, in order to hold bigger lungs.
But with their virtual reconstruction of the Kebara-2 thorax, Gomez-Olivencia and his fellow researchers found that Neanderthal's chest and lungs were probably no larger than those of modern humans. Instead, they had a different shape: the Neanderthal thorax was wider at the bottom, which meant that it could have had a wider and wider diaphragm and could suck in more air than we could not.
"The wide, lower Neanderthalian thorax and the horizontal orientation of the ribs suggest that Neanderthals rely more on their diaphragm to breathe," said study co-author Ella Been of the Neanderthals. Ono Academic College in a press release. "Modern humans, on the other hand, depend on both the diaphragm and the dilation of the chest to breathe."
Although researchers still do not know whether this adaptation of lung capacity has helped Neanderthals survive climate change, they hope that the use of more of these virtual reconstruction techniques will continue to highlight the exactly how our human ancestors moved and interacted with the world.
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