Archaeologists have reconstructed the human-like face of a Neanderthal woman who lived 75,000 years ago in a cave in northern Iraq where the extinct species may have conducted unique funerary rituals, Britain’s The Independent reported.
Bone fragments of the Neanderthal woman, named Shanidar Z, were first unearthed in 2018 from a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan where her people may have repeatedly returned to lay their dead to rest, said the report.
Although Neanderthal people, who are thought to have died out 40,000 years ago, had skulls quite different from those of humans, the rebuilt face of this Neanderthal woman – thought to have been in her forties when she died – shows that their appearance was human-like.
The findings are revealed in a new documentary, Secrets of the Neanderthals, produced by the BBC and released on Netflix worldwide.
“Neanderthal skulls have huge brow ridges and lack chins, with a projecting midface that results in more prominent noses,” said Dr. Emma Pomeroy, from Cambridge University’s archaeology department. “But the recreated face suggests those differences were not so stark in life.”
She continued: “It’s perhaps easier to see how interbreeding occurred between our species, to the extent that almost everyone alive today still has Neanderthal DNA.”
The woman’s remains, including a skull flattened to around 2cm thick, are some of the best-preserved Neanderthal fossils found this century, The Independent quoted researchers as saying.
Her head is thought to have been crushed, possibly by rockfall, soon after her death, likely after her brain decomposed but before her skull filled with dirt.
After carefully exposing the remains, including her skeleton almost to the waist, Cambridge researchers used a glue-like consolidant to strengthen the bones and surrounding sediment.
They removed Shanidar Z in small foil-wrapped blocks from under 7.5 meters of soil and rock within the heart of the “flower funeral” cave.
They then pieced together more than 200 pieces of her skull to return it to its original shape, including her upper and lower jaws.
“It’s like a high-stakes 3D jigsaw puzzle. A single block can take over a fortnight to process,” said Pomeroy, who features in the new documentary.
The researchers surface-scanned the reconstructed skull and 3D-printed it, further adding layers of fabricated muscle and skin to reveal her face.
