Posted on 03/10/2005 6:37:15 PM PST by null and void
Anthropologists have built a "Frankenstein" Neanderthal skeleton, the first and only full-body reconstruction of the species. The result, announced today, is a shape no one expected.
"It’s almost like making my own fossil discovery," said Gary Sawyer, one of the skeleton’s architects.
Sawyer, an anthropologist at the American Natural History Museum in New York, and his colleague Blaine Maley of Washington University, pieced together the skeleton using bones mostly from an individual known as La Ferrassie 1.
La Ferrassie 1 was missing its rib cage, pelvis, and a few other parts, so Sawyer and Maley had to scrounge around to find some parts.
"The missing parts had to come from another classic Neanderthal that was similar, if not identical, in size to the La Ferrassie man," Sawyer told LiveScience in a phone interview.
The spare parts came from Kebara 2, a 60,000-year-old skeleton discovered in Israel in 1983. Kebara 2 was previously known as the specimen with the best rib cage, pelvis, and vertebral preservation.
The La Ferrassie man was discovered in France in 1909 and is about 70,000 years old.
'Dwarfy-like beings'
Sawyer said the replacement bones are remarkably similar in size to La Ferrassie man – most were off by only a few millimeters.
Still, as the scientists pieced together the bones, something didn’t look quite right. A rotund, bell-shaped torso, produced by a flared lower ribcage, and a pelvic region that looked slightly wide and feminine, began to form in front of their eyes.
"The biggest surprise by all means is that they have a rib cage radically different than a modern human’s rib cage," said Sawyer. "As we stood back, we noticed one interesting thing was that these are kind of a short, squat people. These guys had no waist at all – they were compact, dwarfy-like beings."
Other bits and replacement pieces, mostly the ends of bones, were collected from half a dozen other Neanderthals. The remaining gaps were filled in with reconstructed human bones.
The finished product is "like Frankenstein," Sawyer said.
Even though the reconstructed fossil is made up of both Neanderthal and human bones, Sawyer doesn’t believe that modern humans could have evolved from Neanderthals based on the pelvic and torso discrepancies between the two species.
Evolutionary side road
"There is no way that modern humans, I believe, could have evolved from a species like Neanderthal," Sawyer said. "They’re certainly a cousin – they’re human – but they’re one of those strange little offshoots."
The reconstructed Neanderthal skeleton is currently on display at the Dolan DNA Learning Center in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. It will eventually go on permanent display at the American Museum of Natural History.
This research will be published in the March 11 issue of the Anatomical Record Part B: The New Anatomist.
Neanderthals were a relative of homo sapiens that co-inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia with hum from about 120,000 to 29,000 years ago. They were well adapted to the cold and were very muscular -- good traits for hunting large animals.
"They had very strong hands," Sawyer said. "If you shook hands with one, he would turn your hand to pulp."
Neanderthal reconstruction with color coding for specimen identification. The brownish color is La Ferrassie 1, the green is Kebara 2, and the white is false human bone. Credit: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Is that a technical term?
This is hugh! What a victory of science!!
Looks to me like gin soaked bones of Teddy Chapaquickdrown Kennedy.
hmmmm.....I don't think it's kosher to mix bones of a 60,000 yr old skeleton found in Israel, with 70,000yr old bones found in France.
pong
It's basically trading armor for flexibility. They had very inflexible torsos but were less vulnerable to penetrating gut wounds, a death sentence in pre-tech times. The ribs hover very low over the hips, almost no waist.
They're also geared for crushing power rather than speed. The bone attachments are geared short rather than tall. Furthermore, the lower arms and lower legs are very short compared to the upper limbs in each case.
They could ram a thrusting spear deep, deep into a big animal, but they had a lousy fastball. They couldn't get much of a whip onto a throwing spear. The inflexible torso didn't help with that, either.
They lived hard, died young, and had skeletons like old rodeo cowboys. Lots of healed breaks. They took care of their wounded and buried their dead.
How did it look in a tux?
I wonder if the muscle attachments from bone to muscle were anchored in different locations compared to modren humans. Muscle to bone leverage could account for a lot of their increased strength.
Like a penguin?
Like Mike Tyson.
*caption* does this make me look fat?
I think that's true. Humans have pretty tall attachments compared to most animals. Tall gearing is better for endurance running and for throwing.
Neanderthals had knobbier, more robust skeletons. They were more adapted for cold weather and less for running all day across the grasslands. The wave of modern types out of Africa that replaced them was probably better with the throwing spear among its advantages.
All wrong. It looked like Peter Boyle.
Like many of the current residents of south east asia.
Maybe call it:
Neanderthal Nobility
One Tough and Chivalrous Hombre
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahahahahahah good one man HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
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