Postcranial evidence of cold adaptation in European Neandertals

Abstract

The low brachial and crural indices of the European Neandertals have long been considered indicative of cold adaptation. Recent work has documented lower limb/trunk ratios and deeper chests (anterior-posterior diameter) in European Neandertals than among their successors. The present study uses variables reflective of limb length, body mass and trunk height, and compares European Neandertals to 15 globally diverse recent human samples (1 "Eskimo," 3 North African, 4 sub-Saharan African and 7 European). Bivariate plots, as well as principal components analysis plots of log shape-transformed data, indicate that European Neandertals had an overall body shape that falls at the extreme end of modern higher latitude groups' range of variation. Cluster analysis (minimum spanning tree on a principal coordinates plot) indicates that the Neandertals are closest in body shape to modern "Eskimos," but even in this dendrogram, they are joined to the "Eskimo" via a long branch. In fact, it appears that European Neandertals were "hyperpolar" in body shape, likely due to two factors: 1) the extremely cold temperatures of glacial Europe and 2) less effective cultural buffering against cold stress.

Anatomical evidence for the antiquity of human footwear use

“…Table 3 KruskaleWallis P-values for comparisons of residuals from reduced major axis regressions across all samples, within the recent humans, and across the Late Pleistocene samples consistent reduction in apparent robusticity from the Neandertals to the Qafzeh-Skhul sample to the middle Upper Paleolithic one, with the last falling very close to the recent human average. However, the Neandertals possessed elevated body mass relative to limb length [36], which would have increased relative loads on the phalanges, assuming that they can be considered weight-bearing (see above). Moreover, the Neandertals appear to have had slightly abbreviated proximal hallucal phalangeal lengths relative to recent humans [80], a pattern homologous to the foreshortening of their pollical proximal phalanges [96].…”

A Niche Construction Perspective on the Middle–Upper Paleolithic Transition in Italy

“…For instance, Smith's (2007a) reference to niche construction by early modern human foragers can be expanded to better understand the evolutionary fate of Neanderthals, a regional population of hominins that first appeared between 300 and 250 kya along the northwest shore of the Mediterranean before spreading as far east as Siberia and as far north as southern England (Serangeli and Bolus 2008;Hublin 2009). Beyond their distinctive morphology-itself often argued to represent a suite of biological adaptations to their environments (Holliday 1997;Steegman et al 2002;cf. Finlayson 2004)-Neanderthals are also characterized by new manners of engaging with their environment and by a suite of new behaviors that demarcate them from their predecessors.…”

The Regourdou 1 Neandertal body size

“…They are an initial step in estimating differential energetic expenditure (Leonard and Robertson, 1997;Ocobock, 2014;Sorensen and Leonard, 2001). They are a core element for assessing body proportions (Carretero et al, 2012;Holliday, 1997a;Trinkaus et al, 2014). Body size estimates also permit assessments of sexual dimorphism, for those specimens with sexually diagnostic pelvic remains (Plavcan, 2001;Ruff, 2010;Trinkaus, 1980).…”