Kebara 2: new insights regarding the most complete Neandertal thorax

The relevance of the first ribs of the El Sidrón site (Asturias, Spain) for the understanding of the Neandertal thorax

“…Sizes of the upper ribs of Kebara seem to be all within or at the lower end of the range of modern humans (Gómez-Olivencia et al, 2009;García Martínez et al, accepted). But there is also evidence suggesting that the shape might be different.…”

“…Based on these observations he speculated further that the ribcage of the Krapina Neanderthals was likely projecting more forwards than in modern humans ["wodurch auch der Brustkorb mehr vorgewölbt war" (Gorjanovic Kramberger, 1906): 212.]. Thus, by predicting that the morphology of the first rib is significantly related to the morphology of the remaining thorax, Gorjanovic-Kramberger proposed an important hypothesis that is relevant to the previously mentioned studies on general thorax morphology and evolution (Franciscus and Churchill, 2002;Gómez-Olivencia et al, 2009). …”

“…Hypotheses about the paleobiological significance of Neanderthal thorax morphology have referred to different factors ranging from cold adaptations, energetics and activity levels, increased body mass (Franciscus and Churchill, 2002;Churchill, 2006) to questions related to the evolution of overall body shape (Jellema et al, 1993;Ruff, 2002;Gómez-Olivencia et al, 2009;Ruff, 2010;García-Martínez et al, 2012;Bastir et al, 2013a;Bastir et al, 2013b;Bastir et al, 2013c). …”

“…However, despite its importance the extent of differences in size and shape of the Neandertal thorax is still not entirely clear (Franciscus and Churchill, 2002;Churchill, 2006;Gómez-Olivencia et al, 2009). The question of size and shape differences is also important in the light of recent evidence that supports a division of the thorax into an upper and a lower part for functional, developmental and evolutionary reasons (Arensburg, 1991;Bastir et al, 2013c;Schmid et al, 2013).…”

“…Other researcher has suggested that the ribs of the lower thorax in Kebara are relatively large (Gómez-Olivencia et al, 2009;García Martínez et al, accepted). This evidence, together with a complete reconstruction of a Neanderthal skeleton (Sawyer and Maley, 2005) suggests a wider lower thorax in Neanderthals than in modern humans.…”