3D virtual reconstruction of the Kebara 2 Neandertal thorax

Asier Gómez-Olivencia (), Alon Barash, Daniel García-Martínez, Mikel Arlegi, Patricia Kramer, Markus Bastir and Ella Been
Additional contact information
Asier Gómez-Olivencia: Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU)
Alon Barash: Bar-Ilan University
Daniel García-Martínez: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC)
Mikel Arlegi: Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU)
Patricia Kramer: University of Washington
Markus Bastir: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC)
Ella Been: Ono Academic College

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The size and shape of the Neandertal thorax has been debated since the first discovery of Neandertal ribs more than 150 years ago, with workers proposing different interpretations ranging from a Neandertal thoracic morphology that is indistinguishable from modern humans, to one that was significantly different from them. Here, we provide a virtual 3D reconstruction of the thorax of the adult male Kebara 2 Neandertal. Our analyses reveal that the Kebara 2 thorax is significantly different but not larger from that of modern humans, wider in its lower segment, which parallels his wide bi-iliac breadth, and with a more invaginated vertebral column. Kinematic analyses show that rib cages that are wider in their lower segment produce greater overall size increments (respiratory capacity) during inspiration. We hypothesize that Neandertals may have had a subtle, but somewhat different breathing mechanism compared to modern humans.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06803-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-06803-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06803-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().