Calculated or caring? Neanderthal healthcare in social context

Figures & data

Figure 1. The crania of the La Chapelle aux Saints Neanderthal. Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Homo_sapiens_neanderthalensis.jpgBy Luna04 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0

Figure 2. Examples of periosteal proliferation on LF1 (a) distal right tibia (posterior view); (b) distal left femur (posterior view) (Tilley 2015, 244).

Figure 3. Plan of La Ferrassie ‘cemetery’ with the position of five child burials and two adult burials, LF1 is marked ‘1’ (drawing by Gail Hitchens, redrawn from Heim 1982).

Figure 4. Shanidar Cave, like most cave and rockshelter sites where near complete Neanderthal skeletons have been recovered, is a difficult to access location even for the healthy and fully able. Individuals with severe and entirely immobilizing leg injury are likely to have stayed in more accessible locations rather than their absence in the record implying abandonment.Credit: By JosephV at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1445491

Tilley, L. 2015. “Theory and practice in the Bioarchaeology of Care.” In Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. New York, NY: Springer.

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