Study Sheds Light on Industrial Revolution Effect on the Modern Human Versus Neanderthal Spine
For years, researchers have outlined what they saw as differences in the spine of Neanderthals compared with modern Homo sapiens, but recent studies have begun to refute that by studying modern spines from around the world, and taking into effect pre- and post-Industrial Revolution differences.
"Our results demonstrate significant differences between postindustrial cadaveric remains and archaeological samples of people that lived preindustrial lifestyles. We suggest these differences are related to activity and other aspects of lifestyle rather than innate population (ancestry) differences," wrote the authors of newly published study by Scott A. Williams of Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University (NYU), and coauthors from NYU and other organizations in the United States and South Africa.
The authors focused on lordosis differences. They compared 332 modern spines from around the world (including pre-Industrial Revolution) to archaeological specimens of Neanderthal spines.
"Previous studies have suggested that [Neanderthals] had less lordotic (ventrally convex) lumbar columns than modern humans, which contributed to historical perceptions of postural and locomotor differences between the two groups," the authors wrote.
What they discovered was more lumbar wedging in vertebrae after the Industrial Revolution. They studied sex differences, and there was less of a difference in women between pre- and post-Industrial Revolution spines.
"Given the results presented here," they wrote, "it is essential that fossil hominins and preindustrial modern humans are not compared to samples from sedentary, industrialized populations, but rather to the remains of individuals that engaged in more active, traditional lifestyles. Rather than invoking innate human population differences in a complex anatomical structure like lumbar lordosis, researchers should first attempt to explore hypotheses of plasticity in skeletal structures." (See Williams SA, Zeng I, Paton GJ, et al. Inferring lumbar lordosis in Neandertals and other hominins. PNAS Nexus. 2022;1(1):pgab005. doi:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgab005.)