Face of Neanderthal woman revealed 75,000 years later

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1] [2] [3]

The face of a Neanderthal woman has been reconstructed, revealing her appearance about 75,000 years after she died.

The bones of the female were excavated in 2018 from a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. For decades, Shanidar Cave has been renowned as a significant Neanderthal archaeological site containing the remains of several individuals of this archaic human species.

The latest facial reconstruction is featured in a documentary that will launch on Netflix worldwide at 3 a.m. ET May 2. Secrets of the Neanderthals, produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit, follows a research team led by experts from the University of Cambridge and Liverpool John Moores University as they return to Shanidar Cave to continue their investigations.

Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are one of our closest extinct relatives. This species lived in Eurasia until their disappearance about 40,000 years ago. In certain regions and periods, they coexisted with anatomically modern humans—and even interbred with us.

The recreated head of Shanidar Z, made by the Kennis brothers for the Netflix documentary "Secrets of the Neanderthals." The model was based on 3D scans of the reconstructed skull. Jamie Simonds/BBC Studios

The latest facial reconstruction—created for the Netflix film—is based on the remains of a female dubbed "Shanidar Z" that researchers found in the cave. The remains consisted of an articulated skeleton almost down to the waist, including a skull.

The skull was found in a significantly flattened state and heavily fragmented. The head of the woman had apparently been crushed, possibly by rockfall, relatively soon after death before being compacted further by tens of thousands of years of sediment build-up.

Experts carefully removed the remains from the cave and reconstructed the skull by painstakingly piecing together more than 200 fragments.

The rebuilt skull was then scanned to create a digital reconstruction. The team's next step was to 3D-print a model of the skull based on the digital version. This formed the basis of the reconstructed head, which was created by world-leading paleoartists and identical twins Adrie and Alfons Kennis. The brothers added layers of fabricated muscle and skin to reveal the Neanderthal woman's face.

The skull of Shanidar Z, which was reconstructed in a lab at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. The skull was excavated from the Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. Jamie Simonds/BBC Studios

"The skulls of Neanderthals and humans look very different," Emma Pomeroy, a paleo-anthropologist with Cambridge's Department of Archaeology, who is featured in the new film, said in a press release.

"Neanderthal skulls have huge brow ridges and lack chins, with a projecting midface that results in more prominent noses. But the recreated face suggests those differences were not so stark in life. It's perhaps easier to see how interbreeding occurred between our species," she said.

New analysis suggests that Shanidar Z was perhaps in her mid-40s—a significant age to reach in this period of prehistory.

"As an older female, Shanidar Z would have been a repository of knowledge for her group, and here we are 75,000 years later, learning from her still," Pomeroy said.

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archaeology? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})

< Back to 68k.news PL front page