Ricerc@Sapienza

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.