Neanderthal Body Facts

The skulls were very different from today’s skulls. The Neanderthals had a low, flat, elongated skull. They had a flat basic cranium and a broad projecting nose. 1200 – 1750 square cm was the skull capacity. It was 10% greater than a modern human average. The way the brain was constructed was different and less developed than ours. They had long faces with sloping foreheads and receding foreheads. There was little or no chin on the head and a large gap behind the third molar. They had a large nasal cavity. That’s why they had large noses.

The body was very different from us as well. They had large round fingertips and long collar bones. There were large kneecaps, short shinbones and calf bones, short bowed shoulder blades, barrel-shaped rib cage and thick thigh bones. The arms and leg bones were twice as thick as ours. The pelvis was very long and odd shaped.

Paleontologists have found remains of Homo sapiens bones and skulls and it shows distinctive wear on the teeth which may be caused by chewing down hides in order to make them soft enough for clothing. If so, this would be the earliest evidence of earlier human making clothing.