Neanderthals: Body of Evidence
As every fan of crime drama television knows, the human body holds a wealth of information about its once-living owner. Flesh and bugs may tell of time of death, but as emphasized in Bones (perhaps the most iconic TV show in this category), the bare bones themselves speak greater volumes. Bone shape and size can often reveal sex and age; bone chemistry and teeth tell of diet and health. Subtler clues can reveal all manner of details: which hand the deceased preferred to use, their access to health care, or even what their voice sounded like. All of this holds true for modern humans—and for our ancient relatives too.
SAPIENS’ archaeologist columnist Anna Goldfield has compiled a head-to-toe tour of the Neanderthal, one of our most famous cousins. Her stories walk us through the body of evidence for what Neanderthal lives were really like as told through their bones. This interactive graphic collates all of them; simply click on the links below to reveal their secrets.
Image courtesy of Fiorella Ikeue/SAPIENS
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You may republish this article, either online and/or in print, under the Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 license. We ask that you follow these simple guidelines to comply with the requirements of the license.
In short, you may not make edits beyond minor stylistic changes, and you must credit the author and note that the article was originally published on SAPIENS.
Accompanying photos are not included in any republishing agreement; requests to republish photos must be made directly to the copyright holder.
