[Ed note: This story was originally posted 2019-08-14 23:09 UTC but was lost when we had the site crash Thursday morning. Prior comments have, unfortunately, been lost. --martyb]
Neanderthals commonly suffered from 'swimmer's ear'
Abnormal bony growths in the ear canal were surprisingly common in Neanderthals, according to a study published August 14, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Erik Trinkaus of Washington University and colleagues.
External auditory exostoses are dense bony growths that protrude into the ear canal. In modern humans, this condition is commonly called "swimmer's ear" and is known to be correlated with habitual exposure to cold water or chilly air, though there is also a potential genetic predisposition for the condition. Such exostoses have been noted in ancient humans, but little research has examined how the condition might inform our understanding of past human lifestyles.
In this study, Trinkaus and colleagues 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 exostoses to modern human samples, the condition was exceptionally common in Neanderthals. Approximately half of the 23 Neanderthal remains examined exhibited mild to severe exostoses, at least twice the frequency seen in almost any other population studied.
Also at CNN and New Scientist.
External auditory exostoses among western Eurasian late Middle and Late Pleistocene humans (open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220464) (DX)
Related Stories
Neanderthals ate sharks and dolphins
Neanderthals were eating fish, mussels and seals at a site in present-day Portugal, according to a new study.
The research adds to mounting evidence that our evolutionary relatives may have relied on the sea for food just as much as ancient modern humans.
For decades, the ability to gather food from the sea and from rivers was seen as something unique to our own species.
Scientists found evidence for an intensive reliance on seafood at a Neanderthal site in southern Portugal.
Neanderthals living between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago at the cave of Figueira Brava near Setubal were eating mussels, crab, fish - including sharks, eels and sea bream - seabirds, dolphins and seals.
The research team, led by Dr João Zilhão from the University of Barcelona, Spain, found that marine food made up about 50% of the diet of the Figueira Brava Neanderthals. The other half came from terrestrial animals, such as deer, goats, horses, aurochs (ancient wild cattle) and tortoises.
Also at ScienceAlert and Smithsonian Magazine.
Last Interglacial Iberian Neandertals as fisher-hunter-gatherers (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz7943) (DX)
Related: Arctic Inuit, Native American Cold Adaptations May Originate from Extinct Hominids
Evidence of "Swimmer's Ear" Found in Neanderthals
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 15 2019, @11:58PM (6 children)
this proves that neanterthal was an aquatic monkey? Simians get into EVERYTHING!
On the other hand - they were working with only 77 well preserved ear canals, some of which were neantherthals. Half of the available neantherthals had these growths. Quite naturally, we can extrapolate the condition of an entire race of people from this small sample - because - uhhh - poetic liberty?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @12:40AM
Yeah, the science is sketchy... perhaps these ear growths led certain Neanderthals to die in places where their bones would be well preserved
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday August 16 2019, @12:50AM (2 children)
Here's a link [wikipedia.org] to Wikipedia's article on the Aquatic ape hypothesis for those who are not familiar.
It's not the madest thing I've read, but the evidence is scant.
I guess the point is that it seems unlikely our ancestors would ignore a great source of food just because they might get wet.
Neanderthals were pretty much people too, so presumably they could swim and liked seafood.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 16 2019, @01:06AM (1 child)
TFA quote:
Daim', 'twas such a neat and plausible hypothesis!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday August 16 2019, @01:32AM
Oh. I did not see that bit.
Maybe the neanderthals who lived near the beach liked swimming? I will need to interview more neanderthals to get a better sample size.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @06:32AM
But the question is, has anyone delved the External auditory exostoses of the Runaway1956, B.C.? He is something of a troglydite, Faux News consuming cave dwelling Arkansawian. Makes sense he would have boney growths in his ears, and up his other orifices. Best get it checked out, Runaway, could be Republican cancer. Pre-existing condtion, so no Neanderthral Medicare for you. You just have to go extinct.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday August 16 2019, @12:42PM
From the summary, emphasis by me:
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday August 16 2019, @12:47AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfer%27s_ear [wikipedia.org]
The difference between Surfer's Ear and Swimmer's Ear explained here:
https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/surfers-ear-explained-everything-you-need-to-know-about-exostosis/17888 [surfline.com]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @01:31AM
Which shows they weren't water-shy and preferred cleanliness.
-- CHAPTER II
YEARS OF STUDY AND SUFFERING IN VIENNA