The Life and Death of a Neanderthal (Shanidar 1)

Roughly 50,000 years ago, Shanidar 1 aka Nandy walked the earth. What can we say about the life and death of this Neanderthal?

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Sources:

Great general source for Neanderthals:

Sykes, Rebecca Wragg. Kindred. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.

Shanidar Neanderthals and their injuries:

Trinkaus, Erik, and M. R. Zimmerman. “Trauma among the Shanidar Neandertals.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 57, no. 1, 1982, pp. 6176.,

Churchill, Steven E., et al. “Shanidar 3 Neandertal Rib Puncture Wound and Paleolithic Weaponry.” Journal of Human Evolution, vol. 57, no. 2, 2009, pp. 163178.,

Trinkaus, Erik, and Sébastien Villotte. “External Auditory Exostoses and Hearing Loss in the Shanidar 1 Neandertal.” PLOS ONE, vol. 12, no. 10, 2017,

Neanderthal Medicine:

Weyrich, Laura S., et al. “Neanderthal Behaviour, Diet, and Disease Inferred from Ancient DNA in Dental Calculus.” Nature, vol. 544, no. 7650, 2017, pp. 357361.,

Cannibalism:

Defleur, Alban R., and Emmanuel Desclaux. “Impact of the Last Interglacial Climate Change on Ecosystems and Neanderthals Behavior at Baume MoulaGuercy, Ardèche, France.” Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 104, 2019, pp. 114124.,

Smith, Tanya M., et al. “Wintertime Stress, Nursing, and Lead Exposure in Neanderthal Children.” Science Advances, vol. 4, no. 10, 2018,

Diet:

Martínez Valle, Rafael, et al. “Bird Consumption in the Final Stage of Cova Negra (Xátiva, Valencia).” Quaternary International, vol. 421, 2016, pp. 85102.,

Evins, Mary A. “The Fauna from Shanidar Cave Mousterian Wild Goat Exploitation in Northeastern Iraq.” Paléorient, vol. 8, no. 1, 1982, pp. 3758.,

Boëda, Eric, et al. “A Levallois Point Embedded in the Vertebra of a Wild Ass (Equus Africanus)Hafting, Projectiles and Mousterian Hunting Weapons.” Antiquity, vol. 73, no. 280, 1999, pp. 394402.,

Henry, Amanda G., et al. “Microfossils in Calculus Demonstrate Consumption of Plants and Cooked Foods in Neanderthal Diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium).” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 108, no. 2, 2010, pp. 486491.,

GaudzinskiWindheuser, Sabine, et al. “Hunting and Processing of StraightTusked Elephants 125.000 Years AgoImplications for Neanderthal Behavior.” Science Advances, vol. 9, no. 5, 2023,

Art & Symbolism:

Hoffmann, D. L., et al. “UTh Dating of Carbonate Crusts Reveals Neandertal Origin of Iberian Cave Art.” Science, vol. 359, no. 6378, 2018, pp. 912915.,

Jaubert, J., Verheyden, S., Genty, D. et al. Early Neanderthal constructions deep in Bruniquel Cave in southwestern France. Nature 534, 111114 (2016).

New Burial at Shanidar:

Artwork by Ettore Mazza

Additional research by Dr. Anna Goldfield

Disclaimer: Use my videos as a rough guide to a topic. I am not an expert, I may get things wrong. This is why I always post my sources so you can critique my work and verify things for yourselves. Of course I aim to be as accurate as possible which is why you will only find reputable sources in my videos. Secondly, information is always subject to changes as new information is uncovered by archaeologists.

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