Neanderthals were a caring stone age family
NEANDERTHALS looked after each other, the discovery of the skeleton of a disabled caveman reveals.
The individual lived in modern-day Iraq about 50,000 years ago and despite missing a forearm and limping heavily, as well as having poor hearing and vision, he lived until his 40s.
Remarkable for any Neanderthal, this was the equivalent of 80 today.
His long life would not have been possible without the support of a strong social network. Anthropologist Professor Erik Trinkaus, of Washington University, St Louis, said the cavemen’s “foraging existence” would have been rigorous and dangerous.
“More than his loss of a forearm, bad limp and other injuries, his deafness would have made him easy prey for the ubiquitous carnivores in his environment and dependent on other members of his social group for survival.”
The remains of the infirm Neanderthal, known as Shanidar 1 or Nandy, were found during excavations at Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1957.
Analysis of the skull revealed he suffered multiple blows to the side of the face at an early age, which may have led to some vision loss.
He had also suffered fractures, and his right arm eventually had to be amputated at the elbow. The study was published in PLOS ONE.