The human skeleton found in 1993 in a cave near Altamura (Bari, Puglia), is the oldest and most complete Neanderthal ever discovered, and continues to reveal surprising novelties. This is the so-called "man of Altamura", recently dated to about 150 thousand years, which for more than a decade has been the object of the most detailed and technologically advanced paleoanthropological research carried out in Italy on a single prehistoric specimen. Although the skeleton is still sealed in situ, in the last years thanks to a regular field activity in the cave most of bony elements were acquired by using traditional approach as photogrammetry and laser scanning. In addition, during the field activities, we used medical and industrial micro-probes addressed respectively to bronchial and tubes inspection to reach portions of the skull unreachable through traditional techniques. The material acquired represents in some cases the only one documentation of some anatomical features in the fossil record. The digital material will be used to entirely reconstruct the cranial morphology. Part of the project is aimed to reconstruct the nasal cavity (e.g. turbinates, nasal floor) and the coanae. These structures are preserved in the Altamura man and they are absent in other human fossil specimens. The last aim is the detailed study of the occipital bone that is free by karstic concretions revealing information concerning biomechanics of head movements and postural balance in Neanderthals. The results from this project will increase our knowledge concerning the physiology and adaptations of Neanderthal. The 3D models obtained during the development of this project (cranial reconstruction and nasal region) will be shared with the entire scientific community on website platforms.
The arising of Virtual Anthropology techniques in the last 20 years has been allowing the detailed study of fossil bony elements to a level unattainable before. The use of 3D biological models has become widespread in biological anthropology, thanks to sophisticated imaging techniques (e.g., CT-scan and micro CT) borrowed from fields other than biology. These technologies allow to virtually reproduce real specimens with settable values of image resolution, as well as to extract structures usually not available (e.g. endocast, paranasal sinuses) or difficult to study without the physical destruction of the specimen. This project will use the most innovative techniques available nowadays for digital acquisition and virtual elaboration of 3D models.
One of the most innovative aspects in the study of the Altamura man skeleton is the use of several techniques for the digital acquisition of bony elements. Usually, in archaeological sites, the acquisition is limited to photogrammetry and laser scanning. In this case study, the virtual capture of not-visible bony elements was reached through involving in the project technicians of specialized companies (i.e., Leica and Olympus). The use of sophisticated tools will permit to reach not visible portions and the consequently use of software designed to reconstruct digital model from photos will return back anatomical feature not reachable with the standard approach used in the archaeological site. The acquisition of some portions of the Altamura man was performed by using medical instruments commonly employed in the inspection of bronchial tubes. Thank these photographic probes we were able to acquire frames of anatomical structures otherwise impossible to acquire because not visible from the operator¿s view. Part of this project is aimed at the elaboration of selected frames. These will be processed with the Agisoft Photoscan software and the corresponding 3D models will be included in the scan of the Altamura man (acquired by laser scanning). The significance of this part of the project concerns the possibility to acquire for the first time in the entire human fossil record some anatomical structures that in typical conditions are not preserved. The unusual fossilization of the Altamura man allowed the preservation of fragile cartilaginous structures. The project will focus on the reconstruction of the internal nasal region that is often related to adaptations to climate and to the physiology of individuals. Thus, by carrying out this project, it will be possible to provide the scientific community with the first anatomical model of a complete Neanderthal nasal cavity, suitable for morphological and biomechanical analyses.
The occipital bone is a cranial region that is useful to examine from a crucial perspective the phenomenon known as encephalization, which characterizes the evolution of the genus Homo. In addition, the external surface of the occipital bone is marked by the attachment and insertion of neck muscles. The in-depth study of this region could reveal differences between the movement allowed in two different models: the modern human and the Neanderthal ones. As for the encephalization process, the Altamura man is one of the most ancient Neanderthal (around 150 ka) and the entire evolution of Homo neanderthalensis is characterized by progressive encephalization. In this context, the analysis of the completely preserved occipital bone of the Altamura man will increase our knowledge concerning the pattern of encephalization, combined with the assessment of the development of muscles responsible for head movements and balance, lateral rotations and mouth opening.