A team of investigator hasreconstructed the faceof a mature Neanderthal gentleman who lived and died roughly 50,000 years ago in mod - day France , revealing that our extinct full cousin did n’t look all that different from us . Illustrating the ancient senior ’s remarkably modern human - comparable feature article , the digital portrait contributes to our growing sympathy of the similarities between Neanderthals andHomo sapiens , reinforcing the tale that the formerweren’t as primitiveas we once thought .
Known as the Old Man of La Chapelle , theNeanderthalin question was in the beginning discovered in 1908 by brothers Amadee and Jean Bouyssonie while exploring the cave of Chapelle - aux - Saints in southwest France . Subsequent analysis of the skeleton reveal that the mankind was at least 60 years old at the time of his death and that he vagabond the Earth some time between 56,000 and 47,000 old age ago .
Interestingly , the Neanderthal ’s remain tested positive for brucellosis , an infective disease because of bacterium that is usually contracted as a result of consumingunpasteurizeddairy production . harmonize to the researchers , this may represent one of the early documented typeface of an sickness being transmitted from beast to humans .
“ When this Neanderthal skeleton was discovered in 1908 it contribute to the advancement of work on our ancestors , ” said written report authors Professor Francesco Galassi and Dr Elena Varotto – from the University of Lodz and Flinders University severally – in an electronic mail to IFLScience . “ With the passing of time , it has go forward to concern research worker . Our sketch follows in the custom of these study and will also conceive this individual’sbrainfeatures . ”
To animate the Old Man ’s face , the researcher combined previous computed tomography scan of the skull with an updated manikin that was created using photogrammetry . They then import soft - tissue thickness markers from CAT scan of advanced person , sit these so that they could be lock with the shape of the Neanderthal ’s facial bones .
The lead image reveal that while the Old Man possessed classic Neanderthalian figure such as a broad nose , pronounced supercilium , and a lack of a lawful mentum , his appearance was n’t quite as bestial as the established stereotype for his coinage . This finding is very much in line with late research , which has bring out that Neanderthals were probably less ape - like than they are often depict , and may even have beenas intelligent as forward-looking humankind .
“ We often think we know a lot of Neanderthals , but our understanding of their anatomy and physiology is always evolving and with it our perception of them , ” commented study co - author Professor Luca Sineo from the University of Palermo . If this refined reconstruction is anything to go by , the evolutionary chasm between them and us may not have been such a wide one .
