ZURICH, SWITZERLAND—According to a Cosmos report, a new evaluation of the Neanderthal remains known as La Chapelle-aux-Saint 1 suggests Neanderthals had spines resembling those of modern humans. La Chapelle-aux-Saint 1, discovered in central France in 1908, is an almost complete skeleton of an individual thought to have died some 60,000 years ago around the age of 40. He had lost many of his teeth and suffered from arthritis. Scholars originally suggested this man walked with an ape-like hunched posture and bent knees, and recent studies have suggested Neanderthals may not have had a well-developed curve in their spines. Now, Martin Häusler of the University of Zurich and his colleagues have created a virtual reconstruction from high-resolution 3-D surface scans of the specimen's vertebrae and a cast of his right hip bone, the original of which was misplaced in the 1970s. They found the angle of the pelvis and the way the vertebrae stacked produced an S-shaped spine that curved at the neck and inwards from the lower back toward the waist, much like that of modern humans. Häusler added that the wear on the hip joint was similar in both species. “We are quite confident that this is the real shape,” he said. For more, go to “Did Neanderthals Bury Their Dead?”
