Homo Sapiens Fingered in Neandertal Cold Case

Thursday, July 30, 2009 - 18:28 in Paleontology & Archaeology

An injury sustained by a Neandertal who died 50,000 years ago has puzzled scientists for nearly half a century. The individual, found at the site of Shanidar in Iraq and known as Shanidar 3, has a deep slice in one of the ribs, indicating that he was stabbed with a stone implement. The question has been: by whom? There are several possibilities: Either a fellow Neandertal or an early modern human did it intentionally, or the hapless victim himself or a hunting partner inflicted the wound by accident. [More]

Read the whole article on Scientific American

More from Scientific American

Related

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox!