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Abstract:
Nandertals populated the major part of Europe and South Asia
at the beginning of Superior Pleistocene between 100000 and 35000
years ago. Their anatomical characteristics, which distinguish
them from modern humans, indicate that they constitute the last
representative of an entirely fossilized hominid species, of
which evolution can be traced over nearly one million years. The
presence of infants in the fossil populations is particularly
important: The infants can account for as many as one quarter of
the entire individuals discovered. For example, in the region of
Périgord, France, almost one half of the fossilized
individuals are infants. On basis of the attribution of the age
by the comparison of their teeth and those of the modern
children, the young Neandertals seem to show a precocious growth
of the skeleton, at least, by one year. Their precocious growth
is evidenced, in particular, by the general morphology of the
skeleton and also by the cranio-facial proportions. The skull of
Neandertals, therefore, would manifest certain differences from
that of the modern humans. Nevertheless, the differences and then
the reconstitution of Neandertals' vocal tract should be well
within the anatomical and probably functional limits of the
actual humans.
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