Sniffing Out Evolution0

Why did Neanderthals have such large noses? A popular theory connected the size of prehistoric man’s protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils with the ability adapt to cold temperatures.

This enigma led scientists to suggest there were equally large sinuses behind these noses, warming the air before it entered the lungs (and thus keeping bodies warm). Still, others opined the sinuses had the exact opposite function, eliminating heat from the body and reducing sweat.

According to Todd Rae, a paleoanthropologist at Roehampton University in London: “The $64,000 question is what sinuses do — that is, what is their biological function. Scientists have been arguing over that for hundreds of years. There are dozens of suggestions for what they may do for the animals that have them, including adding resonance to the voice and acting as flotation devices!”

To understand the role sinuses may have played in Neanderthals, Rae and his colleagues analyzed X-rays and CT scans of several Neanderthal skulls. The study concluded that Neanderthal sinuses were similar in size with those of modern humans.

According to Rae, these findings suggest that scientists no longer must rely upon “philosophical and logical backflips” to explain how their noses and sinuses might have aided Neanderthals for a life in the cold, especially because they probably did not help at all. Rae even speculated that the evolution of the nose was random.

“I would agree with their overall conclusion that the differences between Neanderthals and modern human faces do not appear in general to be adaptations to extreme cold climates,” said paleoanthropologist Tim Weaver at the University of California, Davis, commenting on the study. Weaver continued: “That doesn’t mean that smaller features might not be shaped by cold climate. The projection of the nose of Neanderthals is very pronounced, and we see that characteristic in present-day humans who have ancestry in cold climates. Whether that’s due to cold climate is unclear, but it’s at least consistent.”

Weaver concluded: “One of the things that’s really fascinating about Neanderthals is that they are perhaps the most closely related species to humans that have ever lived, and in that way can help us really understand the evolutionary forces that shaped us.”

The study will appear in the Journal of Human Evolution.

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