МАЭ № 6080-7

The figure of a Neanderthal child from Teshik-Tash cave (Uzbekistan)

1945, 1947 (plaster casting)

plaster

The figure of a Neanderthal child from Teshik-Tash. The postcranial bones, poorly preserved as they are, sufficed for reconstructing the body shape. To reconstruct the missing parts such as hands and feet Gerasimov used the respective bones of other Neanderthals. The child’s body is disproportional by modern standards: compared to stature, which is low, the head appears too large and robust, and the trunk is long. The child appears to be older than his age suggests. The shoulders are very broad, which is a typically Neanderthal feature. The same applies to the boy’s stoop. The arms, judging by the muscle insertion places, were very strong, and the legs were short and muscular. The fact that difference between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans is no smaller in children than in adults indicates distinction at the species level.

Anthropological plastic reconstructions, lifetime masks. 19th - 20th centuries