Figure 1: The phylogenetic tree of hominins, including Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. 

Figure 3: Neanderthal 1 fossil (top). Cave bear (bottom)

TYPE SPECIMEN

Discovery

In August 1856 at the Kleine Feldhofer Grotte in the Neander Valley of Germany, limestone quarry workers found Neander 1 (Schmitz, et al., 2002). The fossil, along with 15 postcranial bones, was found embedded in the mud (Schmitz, et.al, 2002; King, 1864). The bones found within the cave were originally thought to be those of a cave bear, which fossils of these bears have been found in the surrounding area (Schmitz, et al., 2002). It wasn't until the local teacher and natural historian, Johann Carl Fuhlrott, took a look at the fossils and found that they were on an extinct hominin speices (Schmitz, et al., 2002). Once the fossil was classified as an extinct human species, it received its name of Homo neanderthalensis, or Neanderthal. 

This was a significant find because it was the first fossil evidence to be recognized as that from an extinct human species (Harvati, 2011).

Unfortunately, researchers are not able to provide a specific date as to when this individual lived. Since the find was not considered significant until later, there was no documentation of where it was found, how it was found, what was found around it, etc. Also, sue to the site being a limestone quarry, the cave and surrounding areas were destroyed (Schmitz, et al., 2002).  

Features

Neanderthal 1 includes a portion of the skullcap and a fragment of the left temporal bone. Some of Neanderthal features that it exhibits include :

• • • Overall shape

      • When viewed from the back, it has been given the description of being “en bombe” shaped. This means “bomb-shaped” in French. This refers to the skull’s oval or round shape, with the widest part being in the middle of the braincase (Harvati, 2011). 

      • Characterized by unusual thickness (King, 1864). 

    • Cranial Features

      • Double-arched supraorbital torus (Harvati, 2011).

      •  Forehead is low and retreating and terminated in front of the large projecting brow ridge (King, 1864).

Figure 4: LCS1 fossil - "The Old Man of La Chapelle-aux-Saints."

Discovery

This nearly complete Neanderthal skeleton was discovered on August 3, 1908 by the Bouyssonie brothers in a cave near the village of La Chapelle-aux-Sainted, France (Rendu, et al., 2013). It has been since nicknamed "The Old Man of La Chapelle-aux-Saints."

Description

With the discovery of this fossil, it prompted 19th and 20th century artists to create images of Neanderthals. From this fossil, they created images of archaic humans who were still very primitive and were incompletely erect (Haeusler, et al., 2019). But in the 20th century, after reassessing this fossil researchers found that this individual may have looked like the images from the 19th century, but this was due to them having osteoarthritis and not because Neanderthals were incompletely erect (Haeusler, et al., 2019). 

With a study done by Haeusler, et al. (Haeusler, et al., 2019), they found evidence that this individual was suffering from severe osteoarthritis.

• The left acetabulum (a deep socket that articulates with the head of the femur) shows degenerative changes reflecting severe osteoarthritis.

• There is evidence of reduced space between the intervertebral disks in the cervical and lumbar areas.

• There were many bony changes seen within the vertebral column all pointing to osteoarthritis and Baastrup disease.

  • Baastrup disease is caused by contact of adjacent spinous processes during upright posture.

• This individual would have suffered from tenderness in his back and back pain during upright posture.

All of these changes in the bone would have left this individual with a fixed and immobile lower lumbar spine.

Deliberate Burial Or Not?

The idea that Neanderthals performed intentional burials is still debated today. The site of La Chapelle-aux-Saints is used as evidence for researchers to decide if Neanderthals performed intentional burials or not.

Performed Intentional Burials

• For the researchers that believe this individual was buried intentionally, here is the evidence that supports this (Rendu, et al., 2013):

  • •  There are no carnivore marks on the bones. There were faunal remains found at the same site, that had carnivore marks on the bones. This would indicate that carnivores had access to the area. Since there are no marks on the human bones, this means that this individual was buried.

    • Since the skeleton is nearly complete, this leads to the idea that this individual was buried rapidly allowing for such fossilization.

    • The existence of anatomical connections also indicates this individual was rapidly buried.

    • The preservation patterns seen on the cortical surfaces of the bones also indicates that they were buried rapidly.

    • Cave bears were known to use sites nearby for hibernation. But the cave where this individual was found has no evidence that cave bears used this site for hibernation.

Did Not Perform Intentional Burials 

• For those that do not believe this individual was intentionally buried, here is some of the evidence they present (Dibble, et al., 2015):

  • • Where the depression was made inside the cave is consistent with brown bear hibernation nests.

    • The depression is much larger than the body, indicating it could have been a brown bear hibernation nest, or made by something that was larger than this individual.

    • Other faunal elements were found articulated. This would indicate that this was not an intentional burial but a chance finding.

    • When this fossil was found, the field of archaeology was new and emerging. Excavation techniques were primitive, and the amount of documentation was minimal. This could lead to misinterpretations of the information provided by the fossils.

Significance

Through the finding of this fossil, it has helped shed light on the behaviors and culture of Neanderthals. They are not the dumb, brutish, primitive, hominins that we once thought. After this find, the idea of Neanderthals being the first to intentionally bury their dead was proposed (Rendu, et al., 2013). But researchers still debate about whether or not Neanderthals had the cognitive ability to bury their dead or was this only seen with modern Homo sapiens. Regardless of if this individual was intentionally buried or not, with the amount of osteoarthritis this individuals was suffering from, it shows that Neanderthals were caring for the old and injured. Using the right iliac auricular surface, one study concluded that this individual was in their 60s or 70s (Haeusler, et al., 2019).       

Figure 10: 3D reconstruction of the thorax of K2 when compared with a male modern human. 

Discovery

The Kebara 2 fossil was discovered in Kebara Cave which is located on Mount Carmel in northwestern Israel (Tiller, Arensburg, Vandermeersch, & Chech, 2003). There have been multiple individuals found within this cave varying in ages and from both males and females. These fossils were found during the excavations of M. Stekelis from 1951-1965. Others were found during an Israeli and French excavation project from 1982 to 1990 (Tiller, Arensburg, Vandermeersch, & Chech, 2003). The fossils found within this cave are given the distinction of KMH (Kebara Mousterian Hominid).

The Kebara 2 fossil was found in 1983. Based on the pelvic morphology, paleoanthropologists believe this individual to be male and is estimated have been 32 years old when he died (Tiller, Arensburg, Vandermeersch, & Chech, 2003), (Gomez-Olivencia, et al., 2018). The fossil has allowed the researchers to determine that this individual was about 166 cm (5 ft 4 in) tall and weighed about 75.6 kg (167 pounds) (Gomez-Olivencia, Eaves-Johnson, Franciscus, Carretero, & Arsuaga, 2009). This was a partial skeleton that included the mandible, an upper third molar, the hypoid, the pelvic girdle, the proximal half of the left femur, and the most compete Neanderthal vertebral column and thorax found to date (Gomez-Olivencia, et al., 2018). 

Thorax Morphology and Significance 

Kebara 2 was an important because it is the most complete rib cage of a Neanderthal found to date and has served as a model for the Neanderthal thorax (Gomez-Olivencia, Eaves-Johnson, Franciscus, Carretero, & Arsuaga, 2009). From the Kebara 2 fossil, researchers and paleoanthropologists have concluded that Neanderthals have an antero-posteriorly expanded chest (Gomez-Olivencia, et al., 2018). This means that the distance from the front of the chest to the back of the chest is greater than normal. This contributes the description of Neanderthals have a “barrel chest.” 

There are many hypotheses as to why Neanderthals had wider chests when compared to modern humans. One such hypothesis, and the most likely, is that they needed a wider chest to allow for a larger lung capacity. This need for a larger lung capacity could have been needed due to living in cold ice age conditions, they needed more oxygen to support their large body size, or to allow them to live their hunter-gatherer lifestyle (Gomez-Olivencia, et al., 2018). Through 3D reconstruction Gomez-Olivencia, et al. were able to discover that the lung capacity of Kebara 2, and possibly other Neandertals, was about 9.04 liters (Gomez-Olivencia, et al., 2018). This is larger than the lung capacity of modern humans, which is about 6 liters.

Kebara 2 having a larger thorax and larger lung capacity correlates with them living in Kebara Cave which is 60-65 meters (196 – 213 feet) above sea level. It is believed that Neanderthals needed a larger ventilatory capacity because they had large bodies and lived in high altitudes. This correlation is also seen in human populations who live at high altitudes (Gomez-Olivencia, et al., 2018). Humans, such as the Tibetan monks who live at 10,000 feet above sea level, have larger thorax dimensions than other humans living near sea level.

In Figure 10 you can see the 3D reconstruction completed by Gomez-Olivencia, et al. Their reconstruction has allowed researchers to learn a little more about why Neanderthal thoraxes were shaped differently from modern humans and how this difference in morphology helped Neanderthals survive. There are differences in vertebrae and ribs when comparing Neanderthals and modern humans (Gomez-Olivencia, et al., 2018).  

Figure 12: top: woolly rhinoceros; middle: male cave lion (they did not have manes); bottom: Neanderthals using cave lion fur for clothing. 

Hunters or Scavengers?

There once was a debate about if Neanderthals could hunt or were they scavengers. But now the consensus is that they were skilled hunters who hunted prey such as mammoths, aurochs, gazelle, fallow deer, and woolly rhinoceroses (Speth & Tchernov, 2001). This does not mean that they did not scavenge periodically, but there is no evidence that this was their major source of meat procurement (Speth & Tchernov, 2001).

 There have been many studies in the field of zooarchaeology and paleoanthropology that have looked at what Neanderthals were eating. Through these studies and tooth wear patterns, researchers have discovered that Neanderthals were eating mostly meat from large terrestrial herbivores (Bocherens, 2009). Researchers have taken this one step further and looked at isotopic results from Neanderthals. These results show that Neanderthals were close to predators such as wolves and hyenas suggesting that meat was a large part of their diet (Bocherens, 2009). But this could still mean that they were scavenging for food. In the study published by Herve Bocherens, they compared the isotopic signatures of Neanderthals to hyenas, and they found that hyenas were eating less mammoth and wooly rhinoceroses than Neanderthals. This was probably because these animals were too big for hyenas to kill, and Neanderthals had the advantage of working as a team (Bocherens, 2009).  

When looking at the bones found within the cave homes of Neanderthal, it looks like large game such as woolly rhinoceros and mammoths were not a large part of their diet. But the isotopes show they were. So, what was happening? Researchers believe that Neanderthals were transporting meat from woolly rhinoceros and mammoths from where they killed them back to their shelters. This was done using Mousterian tools that they used to filleted the meat into smaller pieces and then transport back. This would mean that the bones were being left somewhere else and not making it back to their shelters (Bocherens, 2009). 

Hunting Cave Lions

There have been a few areas where researchers have found evidence of how proficient of hunters Neanderthals were.

One such site was in Siegsdorf, Germany. The study of this site done by Russo, et al., revealed how Neanderthals were able to hunt lions (Russo, et al., 2023):

• The remains of a male cave lion were found and dated to 48,000 years ago. Throughout the skeleton there was evidence of three distinct types of surface modifications including trampling damage, carnivore gnawing, and anthropogenic modifications.

• The anthropogenic modifications included:

• Hunting Lesions

• Butchery Marks

• Researchers believe they used wooden spears to kill this lion. This practice is still seen in the Maasai communities in Africa, but with metal spears. 

Evidence that Neanderthals Were Processing the Fur for Future Use

In Siegsdorf, Germany paleoanthropologists found distal phalanx bones of the cave lion that had cuts marks that resulted from cutting the tendon that would separate the claw from the second phalanx and the rest of the limb. This would require advanced knowledge of the anatomy of the lion and even modern taxidermists only perform this kind of procedure for valuable skins that are used as rugs or mounts.

They may have been using the fur for clothing. The fur of a large carnivore would provide warm clothing in colder climates due to its insulating nature.

The pelt could have been worn or displayed as a status symbol for cultural reasons. This practice is still seen in African tribes, such as the Massai. The wearing of lion pelts, claws, or other body parts elevates the individual’s status within the community.