Elderly, deaf Neanderthal survived with friends' help: Study

An elderly Neanderthal who lived about 50,000 years ago and suffered from considerable hearing loss and multiple injuries, must have relied on compatriots to avoid falling prey to carnivores and survive till well into his 40s, finds a new analysis of his remains.

Known as Shanidar 1, the Neanderthal's remains were discovered in 1957 during excavations at Iraqi Kurdistan.

The new analysis, published in the journal PLoS ONE, confirmed bony growths in Shanidar 1's ear canals, which would have led to profound hearing loss.

Previous studies of the skull and other skeletal remains revealed that Shanidar 1 had multiple injuries and had undergone a crushing fracture on the left side of his skull, which might have led to some vision loss.

He had lost his right forearm and hand, and also suffered injuries to the right leg. There was also evidence of an abnormal gait, as well as a condition which led to unusual, new bone formation.

In addition to all these debilitations, his survival as a hunter-gatherer with sensory deprivation would have made him highly vulnerable in his Pleistocene era -- lasting from 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago and spanned the last Ice Age, the researchers said.

"More than his loss of a forearm, bad limp and other injuries, his deafness would have made him easy prey for the ubiquitous carnivores in his environment and dependent on other members of his social group for survival," said Erik Trinkaus, Professor at the Washington University in St. Louis.

Like other Neanderthals who have been noted for surviving with various injuries and limited arm use, Shanidar 1 most likely required significant social support to reach old age.

"The debilities of Shanidar 1, and especially his hearing loss, thereby reinforce the basic humanity of these much maligned archaic humans, the Neanderthals," Trinkaus said.

--IANS

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