User:Cmunroe7/Shanidar Cave

Shanidar Cave

Shanidar Cave Şaneder or Zewî Çemî Şaneder; Arabic: كَهَف شانِدَر‎) Kurdish: ئەشکەوتی شانەدەر) is an archaeological site located on Bradost Mountain, part of the Zagros Mountain range, in the Kurdistan area of northern Iraq. Anthropologist Ralph Solecki lead a crew from Columbia University to explore the site. With the accompaniment of Kurdish workers, the group excavated the Shanidar Cave and found the remains of eight adult and two infant Neanderthals, dating from around 65,000-35,000 years ago. These individuals were uncovered amongst a Mousterian layer accompanied by various stone tools and animal remains. The cave also contains two later "proto-Neolithic" cemeteries, one of which dates back about 10,600 years and contains 35 individuals.

Shanidar Skull. Cranium capacity 1,600cm3

The best known of the Neanderthals at the site are Shanidar 1, who survived several injuries during his life, possibly due to care from other Neanderthals in his group. In addition,  Shanidar 4 another Neanderthal, whose body was found lying beside a flower could be explained as a common form of burial rituals. Until this discovery, Cro-Magnons, the earliest known H. sapiens in Europe, were the only individuals known for purposeful, ritualistic burials.

Shanidar 1

Shanidar 1 was an elderly Neanderthal male known as ‘Nandy’ to his excavators. He was aged between 30 and 45 years, remarkably old for a Neanderthal. Shanidar 1 had a cranial capacity of 1,600 ㎤, was around the height of 5 feet 7 inches, and displayed severe signs of deformity. He was one of four reasonably complete skeletons from the cave which displayed trauma-related abnormalities, which in his case would have been debilitating to the point of making day-to-day life painful.

During the course of the individual’s life, he had suffered a violent blow to the left side of his face, creating a crushing fracture to his left orbit which would have left him partially or totally blind in one eye. Research by Ján Lietava shows that the individual exhibits “atypically worn teeth”. Severe changes to the individuals incisors and a flattened capitulum show additional evidence towards Shanidar 1 suffering from a degenerative disease. Additionally, analysis shows that Shanidar 1 likely suffered from profound hearing loss, as his left ear canal was partially blocked and his right ear canal was completely blocked by exostoses. He also suffered from a withered right arm which had been fractured in several places. A fracture of the individual’s C5 vertebrae is thought to have caused damage to his muscle function (specifically the deltoids and biceps) of the right arm. Shanidar 1 healed, but this caused the loss of his lower arm and hand. This is thought to be either congenital, a result of childhood disease and trauma, or due to an amputation later in his life. The sharp point caused by a distal fracture of the individual's right humerus points towards this theory of amputation.  If the arm was amputated, this demonstrates one of the earliest signs of surgery on a living individual. The arm had healed, but the injury may have caused some paralysis down his right side, leading to deformities in his lower legs and feet. Studies show that this individual had suffered from two broken legs. This would have resulted in him walking with a pronounced, painful limp. These findings in Shanidar 1’s skeleton propose that he was unlikely to be able to provide for himself in a Neandertal society.

More recent analysis of Shanidar 1 by Washington University Professor Erik Trinkaus and Dr. Sébastien Villotte of the French National Centre for Scientific Research confirm that bony growths in his ear canals would have resulted in extensive hearing loss. These bony growths support a diagnosis of Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), also known as Forestier's disease. This diagnosis would make Shanidar 1 the oldest hominin specimen clearly presenting this systematic condition.The researchers found these bone growths in multiple places all over the partial skeleton.

As a result of the healing of his injuries, Shanidar 1 lived a substantial amount of time before his death. If the Neandertals did perform surgery on Shanidar 1, this proves that their methods were successful in sustaining life. Considering that all the injuries were healed during this time period may lead to the reasoning that this individual was kept alive for a reason. According to paleoanthropologist Erik Trinkaus, Shanidar must have been aided by others in order to survive his injuries. Due to all of the injuries and side effects of trauma, it was very unlikely that this individual could provide for his family or contribute to society in a meaningful way. With that being said, this individual may have been kept alive due to a high status within society or a repository of cultural knowledge.

This leads us to believe that the Neandertals had some sort of altruistic characteristics with the possibility of the presence of ethos within the Neandertal community. The discovery of stone tools found in proximity to these individuals allows us to deduce that the Neandertals exhibited enough intelligence to make everyday life easier themselves. Maybe this knowledge surpasses basic comprehension to include characteristics such as humility and compassion which have the most known presence in Homo sapiens. These individuals may have had the capacity to show empathy to others and come to the understanding that life has meaning - causing them to want to help Shanidar 1.