The ten Neanderthals at the site were found within a
Mousterian layer which also contained hundreds of stone tools including
points,
side-scrapers, and
flakes and bones from animals including
wild goats and
spur-thighed tortoises. The skeleton of Shanidar 3 is held at the
Smithsonian Institution. The others (Shanidar 1, 2, and 4–8) were kept in Iraq and may have been
lost during the 2003 invasion, although casts remain at the Smithsonian. In 2006, while sorting a collection of faunal bones from the site at the Smithsonian,
Melinda Zeder discovered leg and foot bones from a tenth Neanderthal, now known as Shanidar 10.
Shanidar 1 Shanidar 1 was an elderly Neanderthal male known as 'Nandy' to his excavators. He was aged between 30 and 45 years. Shanidar 1 had a cranial capacity of 1,600 cm3, was around the height of , 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 individual's 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. Based on the healing of his injuries, Shanidar 1 lived with them for a substantial time before his death. Assuming that Neanderthals did perform surgery on Shanidar 1, his recovery demonstrates that their methods were successful in sustaining life. The prolonged survival of an individual with significant disabilities has also provided the basis for conjecture about Neanderthal social behavior. According to paleoanthropologist Erik Trinkaus, Shanidar 1 must have been aided by others in order to survive his injuries. There is evidence that Shanidar 2 was given a ritual send-off: a small pile of stones with some worked stone points (made out of
chert) were found on top of his grave. Also, there had been a large fire by the burial site. Shanidar 2 had a "higher cranial vault", and other skull proportions that did not quite match up to the average Neanderthal skull. This may prove that the Neanderthals of Shanidar had more of a "morphology of anatomically modern humans" than other Neanderthals, or that the group was very diverse. This points to similarities between the two species, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, but it does not show any inherited "relationships within that species".
Shanidar 3 Shanidar 3 was a 40- to 50-year-old male, found in the same grave as Shanidar 1 and 2. A wound to the left 9th rib suggests that the individual died of complications from a stab wound by a sharp implement. Bone growth around the wound indicates that Shanidar 3 lived for at least several weeks after the injury with the object still embedded. The angle of the wound rules out self-infliction, but is consistent with an accidental or purposeful stabbing by another individual. This would be the earliest example of inter-personal or inter-specific violence in the human fossil record and the only such example amongst Neanderthals. The presence of
early-modern humans between 45,000 and 35,000 years ago, possibly armed with projectile weapons, in western Asia around the same time has been taken to imply that this injury may have resulted from inter-species conflict. Shanidar 3 also suffered from a
degenerative joint disorder in his foot resulting from a fracture or sprain, which would have resulted in painful, limited movement. positioned on his left side in a partial
fetal position. For many years, Shanidar 4 was thought to provide strong evidence for a Neanderthal burial ritual. Routine
soil samples from around the body, gathered for
pollen analysis in an attempt to reconstruct the
palaeoclimate and vegetational history of the site, were analysed eight years after its discovery. In two of the soil samples in particular, whole clumps of pollen were discovered by
Arlette Leroi-Gourhan in addition to the usual pollen found throughout the site, suggesting that entire
flowering plants (or at least heads of plants) had been part of the grave deposit. Furthermore, a study of the particular flower types suggested that the flowers may have been chosen for their specific medicinal properties.
Yarrow,
cornflower,
bachelor's button,
St Barnaby's thistle,
ragwort,
grape hyacinth,
horsetail and
hollyhock were represented in the pollen samples, all of which have been traditionally used, as
diuretics,
stimulants, and
astringents and
anti-inflammatories. This led to the idea that the man could have had
shamanic powers, perhaps acting as
medicine man to the Shanidar Neanderthals.
Paul B. Pettitt has stated that the "deliberate placement of flowers has now been convincingly eliminated", noting that "A recent examination of the microfauna from the strata into which the grave was cut suggests that the pollen was deposited by the burrowing rodent
Meriones persicus, which is common in the Shanidar microfauna and whose burrowing activity can be observed today". Despite his conclusions that flowers were unlikely to have been deliberately placed, Petitt nevertheless concludes that the Shanidar burials, because they happened over so many years, represent a deliberate mortuary practice by Neanderthals. It has also been suggested that some of the pollen was deposited by nesting solitary bees.
Shanidar 5 The Shanidar 5 remains were found during the 1960 excavations, in layer D, about 4.5 meters below datum. He was an adult Neanderthal, thought to be male and around 40–50 years of age before death. He was caught in the same rockfall that killed Shanidar 2. Recovered were a cranium, 4 teeth, 1 vertebrae, 8 ribs, and miscellaneous other bones. The arrangement of the broken skeletal remains was thought to have been due to animals intervening after death. Radiocarbon results put the date at about 46,000 before the present day. Some years later a small correction to the original cranial reconstruction was found. During the recent excavations more pieces of Shanidar 5 were found The cranium of Shanidar 5 was reconstructed by Erik Trinkaus and his colleagues beginning 1976 and was finalized in 1994 after correcting a couple of errors caught in the process. During the process of reconstruction, there were discussions suggesting signs of intentional cranial deformation. Erik Trinkaus suggested that Shanidar 5 had its cranium deformed intentionally as an infant. However, this implication was overruled due to the fact that the curve was missing after the correction of a misplaced cranium bone fragment. Still, the frontal mid sagittal angle of this individual was very flat at 147º.
Shanidar Z In February 2020, researchers announced the discovery of more Neanderthal remains, which dated back to more than 70,000 years ago. Analysis of the site found that Shanidar Z was laid to rest in a gully that had been formed by hand for the placement of the body. The remains of Shanidar Z were identified as a female in her mid-40s or possibly older, and she stood at about five feet tall. A facial reconstruction was also completed from skull fragments. ==See also==