'Handsome face' of Neanderthal man who died 56,000 years ago reveals a 'softer ... trends now
Artist impressions of Neanderthals show the face protruding forward with a broad nose, but modern technology has revealed a 'softer side' to the now-extinct species.
Researchers reconstructed the face of a man who lived 56,000 years ago using skeletal remains found 115 years ago in France, revealing a 'handsome' old man with a long beard.
A Brazilian graphics expert who co-authored the study used computed tomography (CT) scans of the ancient skull and compared them to human craniums in a database with similar measurements to fill in the blanks.
The fossil suggests he was suffering from severe periodontal disease, a gum infection found in mammals, which experts believe 'could be one of the first documented cases of zoonotic infectious disease spillover.'
Researchers reconstructed the face of a man who lived 56,000 years ago using skeletal remains found 115 years ago in France, revealing a 'handsome' old man with a long beard
Neanderthals were a species that lived alongside humans tens of thousands of years ago and were very similar in appearance and size but were generally stockier and more muscular.
This primitive relative of humans existed for around 100,000 years – much of that time alongside people and breeding with them – before going extinct around 40,00 years ago.
The skull, found in La Chappelle-aux-Saints in 1908, features a nearly complete mandible and cranium that experts determined 'displays many 'classic' Neanderthal traits, including a large, continuous brow ridge; a broad nasal aperture; a long and egg-shaped foramen magnum; a relatively flat cranial base (vs. modern humans); small mastoid processes; a long and low cranium; and large orbits,'
