Neanderthals commonly suffered from bony growths known today as ‘surfer’s ear’ that’s caused by regular exposure to cold water or chilly air
- ‘Surfer’s ear’ describes abnormal growths of bone found within the ear canal
- Experts examined well preserved ear canals in the remains of 77 ancient humans
- Around half of the 23 Neanderthal remains examined exhibited ‘Surfer’s ear’
- This is at least twice as many as seen in almost any other population studied
Abnormal bony growths known as ‘surfer’s ear’ were surprisingly common in Neanderthals, according to a new study.
Surfer’s ear, or external auditory exostoses (EAE) as they are known medically, are abnormal growths of bone within the ear canal.
They are caused by repeated exposure to cold water and wind, which makes the bones surrounding the ear canal thicken to defend the inner ear.
Such EAEs have been discovered before in the remains of ancient humans, but little has examined how the condition might inform our understanding of their lifestyles.
Experts say the findings suggest that the Neanderthal people who suffered from the condition may have spent a lot of time fishing and foraging in water.
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Abnormal bony growths known as ‘surfer’s ear’ were surprisingly common in Neanderthals, according to a new study. Surfer’s ear, or external auditory exostoses (EAE) as they are known medically, are abnormal growths of bone within the ear canal (square left, closeup right)
Researchers from Washington University examined well-preserved ear canals in the remains of 77 ancient humans, including Neanderthals and early modern humans from the Middle to Late Pleistocene Epoch of western Eurasia.
While the early modern human samples exhibited similar frequencies of EAEs to modern human samples, the condition was exceptionally common in Neanderthals.
Around half of the 23 Neanderthal remains examined exhibited mild to severe EAEs – at least twice the frequency seen in almost any other population studied.
‘An exceptionally high frequency of EAEs among the Neandertals, and a more modest level among high latitude earlier Upper Paleolithic modern humans, indicate a higher frequency of aquatic resource exploitation among both groups of humans than is suggested by the archeological record,’ study author Erik Trinkaus said in a written statement.
‘In particular, it reinforces the foraging abilities and resource diversity of the Neandertals.’
Experts say the findings suggest that the Neanderthal people (pictured) who suffered from the condition may have spent a lot of time fishing and foraging in water (artist’s impression)
The researchers caution that they did not establish a definite connection to aquatic foraging, however.
The geographic distribution of EAEs seen in Neanderthals does not exhibit a definitive correlation with proximity to ancient water sources nor to cooler climates, as would be expected.
The authors propose that multiple factors were probably involved in this high abundance of EAEs.
This probably included both environmental factors as well as genetic predispositions.
Further research may shed more light on which of these factors played a larger role in the prevalence of EAEs among these Neanderthals.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
WHO WERE THE NEANDERTHALS?
The Neanderthals were a close human ancestor that mysteriously died out around 50,000 years ago.
The species lived in Africa with early humans for hundreds of millennia before moving across to Europe around 500,000 years ago.
They were later joined by humans taking the same journey some time in the past 100,000 years.
The Neanderthals were a cousin species of humans but not a direct ancestor – the two species split from a common ancestor – that perished around 50,000 years ago. Pictured is a Neanderthal museum exhibit
These were the original ‘cavemen’, historically thought to be dim-witted and brutish compared to modern humans.
In recent years though, and especially over the last decade, it has become increasingly apparent we’ve been selling Neanderthals short.
A growing body of evidence points to a more sophisticated and multi-talented kind of ‘caveman’ than anyone thought possible.
It now seems likely that Neanderthals buried their dead with the concept of an afterlife in mind.
Additionally, their diets and behaviour were surprisingly flexible.
They used body art such as pigments and beads, and they were the very first artists, with Neanderthal cave art (and symbolism) in Spain apparently predating the earliest modern human art by some 20,000 years.
