An older adult male Neanderthal from the Late Pleistocene, who had suffered multiple injuries, became deaf and must have relied on social support from his relatives and friends to avoid prey, according to new research.
The 50,000-year-old Neanderthal remains — known as Shanidar 1 — were discovered in 1957 during excavations at Shanidar Cave in Iraq by Columbia University Professor Ralph Solecki and colleagues.
Previous studies of the Shanidar 1 skull and other skeletal remains had noted his multiple injuries.
This individual sustained a serious blow to the side of the face, fractures and the eventual amputation of the right arm at the elbow, and injuries to the right leg, as well as a systematic degenerative condition.
In the new analysis of Shanidar 1, Washington University Professor Erik Trinkaus and Dr. Sébastien Villotte of the French National Centre for Scientific Research confirm that bony growths in his ear canals would have produced profound hearing loss.
In addition to other debilitations, this sensory deprivation would have made him highly vulnerable in his Pleistocene context.
“Survival as a hunter-gatherer in the Pleistocene presented numerous challenges, and all of those difficulties would have been markedly pronounced with sensory impairment,” the researchers said.
“Like other Neanderthals who have been noted for surviving with various injuries and limited arm use, Shanidar 1 most likely required significant social support to reach old age.”
“The debilities of Shanidar 1, and especially his hearing loss, thereby reinforce the basic humanity of these much maligned archaic humans, the Neanderthals,” Professor Trinkaus concluded.
The research is published in the journal PLoS ONE.
Source: Despite Deafness, Missing Forearm and Limp, This Neanderthal Lived into His Forties | Sci.News