Neanderthals stood up straight like modern humans, study reveals
'Our study supports the idea that Neanderthals were not so different from us'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Neanderthals walked with an upright posture just like modern humans, according to a new analysis.
Over the years, reconstructions of ancient humans have varied enormously, with the gradual ascent from hunched creatures to modern people still seen as the classic depiction of human evolution.
But the idea of Neanderthals as straight-backed fits with a wider image that is developing of our prehistoric ancestors as sophisticated contemporaries rather than knuckle-dragging dimwits.
“At the beginning of the 20th century it was thought Neanderthals were more ape-like in posture, but the more recent reconstructions go in the direction of a very straight, upright spine,” Dr Martin Haeusler from the University of Zurich told The Independent.
Despite the persistence of the ape-like stereotype, a recent study concluded these ancient creatures actually had straighter spines than modern humans.
However, new work undertaken by Dr Haeusler, based on a well-known skeleton unearthed at La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France, found the curves of its ancient spine closely matched those of modern humans.
This made sense to him, as the rigid posture previously suggested would be troubling in people alive today, and would lead to a lot of back pain.
Neanderthals still had some physical difference compared to modern humans, including shorter legs and stockier bodies.
However, they were similar enough to breed with our ancestors, something that is clear from the roughly 4 per cent of their genetic material non-African people have inherited from Neanderthals.
According to Dr Haeusler, his latest work adds to a growing body of evidence showing that in everything from anatomy to culture, these ancient humans were our equals.
“Our studies cannot show how they behaved, but there are now a lot of other lines of evidence that show Neanderthals were also capable of doing art, religion and so on,” said Dr Haeusler.
“Our study supports the idea that Neanderthals were not so different from us.”
The new results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments