A Neanderthal who died from a penetrating spear wound about 75,000 years ago had previously survived a severe facial injury that may have required prolonged care from others, according to a study of remains discovered in a cave in northern Iraq. The findings provide further evidence that Neanderthals cared for injured members of their communities and may have observed funerary practices.
The individual, designated Shanidar A, was discovered in Shanidar Cave, about 105 kilometres north-east of Mosul. The site is known for the remains of 10 Neanderthals, including an infant, whose burials helped challenge long-standing perceptions of the species as primitive and lacking sophisticated social behaviour.
The new research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, draws on archaeological, taphonomic and forensic analysis of Shanidar A’s surviving bones. These include an almost complete right hand, two left ribs, part of the right rib cage, the left shoulder blade and six front teeth. Although incomplete, the remains have enabled researchers to reconstruct aspects of the individual’s injuries and final moments.
The Neanderthal’s sex could not be determined, but the individual was estimated to have been about 45 years old, an advanced age by Neanderthal standards. The teeth showed extensive tartar accumulation and evidence of damage consistent with a substantial blow to the face. The most significant finding, however, was a nearly circular hole in the left shoulder blade.
Nohemi Sala, a researcher at Spain’s National Research Centre for Human Evolution (CENIEH) and a co-author of the study, said the shape of the opening and the radiating fractures around it were characteristic of trauma inflicted around the time of death. The absence of subsequent healing indicated that the injury was fatal, the researchers concluded.
Sala cautioned that the evidence could not establish whether the individual had been attacked or injured in a hunting accident. The researchers determined that a wooden spear had penetrated the bone from the front of the chest, travelling downwards from an elevated position. The wound’s trajectory passed through the region where the heart is located.
Emma Pomeroy, an osteoarchaeologist at the University of Cambridge and the study’s lead author, said the damage more closely resembled experimental injuries caused by a thrusting spear than those produced by a thrown weapon. The direction of penetration suggested that the person holding the spear had been facing the victim at close range.
Although this pattern made interpersonal violence a plausible explanation, Pomeroy said a hunting accident could not be ruled out without further investigation.
Evidence of an earlier injury offers a separate insight into the individual’s life. Several teeth had shifted from their original positions, while one incisor was split lengthwise, suggesting a powerful impact to the face. Researchers could not determine whether the blow was deliberate, resulted from a fall or occurred in another accident.
The injury had healed before Shanidar A’s death. Sala said the individual would probably have experienced considerable pain and may have needed assistance, including help obtaining or eating food, during recovery. “Se curó de esta lesión, cuidaron de él,” she said, meaning that the individual recovered from the injury and was cared for by others.
Graeme Barker, emeritus professor of archaeology at Cambridge and director of excavations at Shanidar since 2015, said the cave’s burials remained unique in Neanderthal archaeology. He said the combined evidence from earlier and more recent excavations supported the conclusion that Neanderthals buried their dead with funerary practices, at least at Shanidar.
