For many years artists have depicted Neanderthals as hunched creatures, not unlike monkeys. Perhaps, all these illustrations are far from past reality, as researchers from the University of Zurich found several evidences that ancient people were bipedal. The discovery was made during study of the bone remains and reconstruction of their skeletons with the help of computer technology.

The first images of human ancestors, which became extinct about 40 000 years ago, appeared in the early twentieth century. The basis of almost all reconstructions was the skeleton of a Neanderthal found in 1908 in a cave Bufe-Bonneval, which is located in the French commune of La Chapelle-AU-sen. Though the first reconstruction, the artists began to portray their stooped — that they could walk upright, few people seriously thought about it.

In the study of the skeleton of a Neanderthal man a team of researchers has discovered that his lumbar spine and neck were arched, just like modern humans. Continuing the study with the help of computer reconstruction, the scientists found that between ancient and contemporary people, there is another common feature is the location of the sacrum . The remains also noticeable wear of the hip joint, which is also the evidence of the direct posture.

Evidence that Neanderthals were fundamentally different from us anatomy, virtually no. It’s time to recognize that between them and modern humans had many similarities.

Martin häusler, lead author of the study

Lately, scientists make many discoveries relating to the life of the Neanderthals. For example, recently the archaeologists were able to find the footprint of one of the last representatives of this kind of people. Also, scientists were able to find out what they ate.

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