For a century and a half, the nasal appendage of Neanderthals has been the subject of study and controversy : it was believed that precisely that part of their anatomy had not adapted well to the change of climate, that it had become drier and colder, and precipitated its extinction about 40,000 years ago.
Now, a multidisciplinary group led by the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, in New York, denies the biggest: the noses of those humans also developed their adaptations to the new meteorological conditions, although in a different way from Homo sapiens .
The team, made up of paleoanthropologists, anatomists and an otolaryngologist, has carried out extensive digital measurements and CT scans to compare the physiognomy of fossils kept in various European museums with that of modern humans. One of the distinguishing features is midface prognathism , that is, the nose protrudes while the cheekbones are sunken, suggesting this different evolution.
This new study also serves to reaffirm the already prevalent theory that Homo neanderthalensis is a human species in its own right , not a separate subspecies of the Homo sapiens lineage.
