Stunning 3D Reconstruction Reveals Neanderthal Woman’s Appearance: Secrets Unraveled

What would it be like to meet one of our closest human relatives from 75,000 years ago in person?

Scientists have created a stunning reconstruction of what a living Neanderthal woman would have looked like.

It is based on the remains of a flattened and fractured skull whose bones, when excavated, were so soft that they had the consistency of a “soft cookie”.

The researchers had to first strengthen the pieces before reassembling them.

Then experienced paleoartists created the 3D model.

The photo features in a new BBC Studios documentary for Netflix called Secrets of the Neanderthals, which explores what we know about our long-lost evolutionary cousins, who became extinct about 40,000 years ago.

The sculpture will face these people.

“I think it will help us connect with who they are,” said Dr. Emma Pomeroy, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Cambridge who is working on the project.

“It’s very exciting and a great honor to be able to work with someone’s remains, but especially someone as special as her,” he told BBC News.

The skull on which the model is based was found in Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. It is an iconic site where the remains of at least 10 Neanderthal men, women and children were discovered in the 1950s.

When the Kurdish authorities invited a British group in 2015, they quickly found a new skeleton, called Shanidar Z, which included much of the person’s upper body, including the spine , shoulders, arms and hands.

The skull was also largely present, but it was crushed into a 2 cm thick layer, possibly by rock that fell from the top of the cave sometime in the past.

“Basically, the skull was as flat as a pizza,” said Professor Graeme Barker of Cambridge, who is leading the new excavation at Shanidar.

“It’s been an amazing journey to go from there to what you see today. As an archaeologist, sometimes you can get tired of what you are doing. But from time to time, you will be surprised because they touch the past. We forget how amazing it is.

With the permission of the local Department of Antiquities, the skull fragments were brought to the UK in blocks of sediment to begin the careful process of liberation, stabilization and then reconstruction.

It took an archaeological restorer more than a year to complete this complex puzzle.

Next, Dutch artists Adrie and Alfons Kennis, known for their expertise in creating accurate representations of ancient people from bones and fossil remains, scanned the surface of the reconstructed skull and 3D printed it.

But as interesting as the sculpture is, with its rather meditative expression, it is the original skeleton that has the real value.

The team is pretty sure “it’s her.”

The pelvic bones would have helped to confirm, but they were not found with the upper body.

Instead, the researchers relied on some dominant proteins found in tooth enamel and associated with female genetics. The small size of the bone also supports the explanation.

What age? He probably died in his forties, as seen more by teeth worn down almost to the roots.

“When your teeth are worn down to this point, chewing is no longer as effective as it used to be, so you can no longer eat in the same way,” explained Dr. Pomeroy.

«We have other signs of poor dental health: infections and gum diseases too. “At that time, I think she was coming to the natural end of her life.”

For a long time, scientists believed that Neanderthals were brutal and primitive compared to our species.

But this view has changed since the discovery of Shanidar.

The cave is famous for exhibiting what appears to be some form of burial practice. The bodies were carefully placed in a cemetery next to tall rock pillars. All the dead shared the same instructions as to how they were arranged.

Pollen on skeletons has led some to argue that these Neanderthals may have been buried with flowers, perhaps suggesting a spiritual or even religious awakening.

But the British team believes that it is more likely that the pollen was left by digging bees at a later date, or perhaps by flowering branches placed on the bodies.

“Not because of the flowers on the branches, but because the branches themselves could have prevented the hyenas from accessing the bodies,” said Professor Chris Hunt from Liverpool John Moores University. .

“I would hesitate to use the word ‘burial’; I think I would use the word ‘location’ to get away from the idea of ​​a vicar and the church. But there is no doubt that they kept a tradition that this is where you put your grandmother.

Secrets of the Neanderthals arrives Thursday on the Netflix streaming platform worldwide.

Additional information by Gwyndaf Hughes.