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The study of the Neanderthal thorax has attracted the attention of the scientific community for more than a century. It is agreed that Neanderthals have a more capacious thorax than modern humans, but whether this was caused by a medio-lateral or an antero-posterior expansion of the thorax is still debated, and is key to understanding breathing biomechanics and body shape in Neanderthals. The fragile nature of ribs, the metameric structure of the thorax and difficulties in quantifying thorax morphology all contribute to uncertainty regarding precise aspects of Neanderthal thoracic shape. The El Sidrón site has yielded costal remains from the upper to the lower thorax, as well as several proximal rib ends (frequently missing in the Neanderthal record), which help to shed light on Neanderthal thorax shape. We compared the El Sidrón costal elements with ribs from recent modern humans as well as with fossil modern humans and other Neanderthals through traditional morphometric methods and 3D geometric morphometrics, combined with missing data estimation and virtual reconstruction (at the 1st, 5th and 11th costal levels). Our results show that Neanderthals have larger rib heads and articular tubercles than their modern human counterparts. Neanderthal 1st ribs are smaller than in modern humans, whereas 5th and 11th ribs are considerably larger. When we articulated mean ribs (size and shape) with their corresponding vertebral elements, we observed that compared to modern humans the Neanderthal thorax is medio-laterally expanded at every level, especially at T5 and T11. Therefore, in the light of evidence from the El Sidrón costal remains, we hypothesize that the volumetric expansion of the Neanderthal thorax proposed by previous authors would mainly be produced by a medio-lateral expansion of the thorax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological site of Aljubarrota (Portugal) contained a secondary deposit of human bones. A previous investigation calculated the minimum number of individuals (MNI) as 414 adults, all male, with 52 macroscopically visible perimortem trauma (38 cuts and 14 puncture wounds). Both the archaeological and osteological data demonstrate a relationship between the bone collection and a violent conflict, specifically the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. This article contributes new data on the perimortem lesions documented in this collection. A total of 2762 bone fragments of the cranium and postcranial skeleton were studied, taking account of the demographic profile, taphonomic alterations, paleopathological modifications, and documented entheseal changes. A further 58 perimortem fractures were detected, all produced by blunt-force trauma, in addition to the 52 perimortem injuries previously documented. The most frequent injuries were blunt-force traumas (58), followed by sharp-force injuries (38) and puncture wounds (14). All perimortem fractures detected were in the femur or tibia, predominantly on the left side of the skeleton and mainly affecting the anterior plane of the bone and middle third of the shaft. The morphology and pattern of these perimortem fractures are consistent with their production by blunt or rounded instruments in face-to-face combat. The enthesopathic modifications observed in the femur fragments suggest that they may correspond to individuals on horseback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]