PATTERNS OF TRAUMA AMONG THE NEANDERTALS

A high frequency of traumatic lesions and post-traumatic degenerative changes have been noted in Neandertal skeletons. To asses the implicat ions of the anatomical distribution of these lesions, we have assigned them to one of seven regions: head/neck, trunk, shoulder/arm, hand, p elvis, leg and foot. The resultant distributions, both including and d eleting injuries indicated only by post-traumatic degenerations and fr om Shanidar 1, were compared to anatomical lesion distributions for th ree Recent human archaeological samples (Bt-5, Libben and a pooled Nub ian one), three modern clinical samples (late 20th century Albuquerque , early 20th century London and late 19th century New York City), and a specialized athletic sample (North American Rodeo performers). The m ajority of the Neandertal samples (as adjusted) are highly significant ly different from the six normal Recent human samples, with only the m ost trimmed Neandertal sample being non-significantly different from t he New York sample. However, all of the Neandertal distributions provi de a close match to the Rodeo traumatic lesion pattern, primarily as a result of a high incidence of head sr neck trauma. Although small sam ple size, preservation and a dearth of older individuals with inhibite d mobility may contribute to the Neandertal lesion distribution, the s imilarity to the Rodeo lesion distribution suggests frequent close enc ounters with large ungulates unkindly disposed to the humans involved. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited