Franciscus Robert G, Churchill Steven E
Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, USA.
J Hum Evol. 2002 Mar;42(3):303-56. doi: 10.1006/jhev.2001.0528.
For over a century, Neandertal rib remains have engendered frequent discussions of "barrel-shaped" thoraces, largely in the absence of systematic comparison and hard data. We present here a description of the relatively complete ribcage of the Near Eastern Shanidar 3 Neandertal. We also furnish metric and non-metric comparisons of the Shanidar 3 ribs with other Near Eastern and European Neandertals, the Nariokotome (Homo erectus/ergaster) specimen, Levantine archaic/early modern humans, early and later European modern humans, and a sample of recent Euroamerican males. It is clear from these comparisons that Neandertals share with modern humans the fundamentally human thoracic "bauplan" that first evolved in the early Pleistocene. Yet it is also apparent that the ribcage of Neandertals differ in several anatomical details from those of fully modern humans. Rib curvature, posterior angle, mid-shaft cross-sectional size and shape, and muscle scarring varies considerably among Neandertals and across all samples when considered in isolated ribs. However, normalized metric and discrete patterning across the greater thorax clearly distinguishes Neandertals from our comparative samples. This is most marked in the inferior thorax where Neandertals (and probably earlier Homo) exhibit larger, more rounded and rugose ribs, and a greater costal area (thoracic volume). Greater lower rib cross-sectional robusticity and muscle scarring indicates relatively elevated ventilatory levels. Greater thoracic volume in Neandertals probably reflects greater body mass compared with modern humans since lung volume scales isometrically to body mass among mammals. Neandertal and modern human pulmonary capacity, normalized for body mass differences, was therefore roughly equivalent in the context of detailed differences in thoracic shape. To the extent that cold-climate adaptation is involved, Near Eastern Neandertals appear less "hyper-polar" in thoracic shape than their European counterparts as is also true for several other body proportion measures that are clinally distributed across the known Neandertal range.
一个多世纪以来，尼安德特人的肋骨化石一直引发着人们对“桶状”胸廓的频繁讨论，而这大多是在缺乏系统比较和确凿数据的情况下进行的。我们在此描述了近东地区沙尼达尔3号尼安德特人相对完整的胸腔。我们还对沙尼达尔3号的肋骨与其他近东和欧洲的尼安德特人、纳里奥科托姆（直立人/匠人）标本、黎凡特地区的古代/早期现代人、早期和晚期欧洲现代人以及一组现代欧美男性样本进行了测量和非测量比较。从这些比较中可以清楚地看出，尼安德特人与现代人拥有在早更新世首次进化而来的基本人类胸廓“蓝图”。然而，同样明显的是，尼安德特人的胸腔在一些解剖学细节上与完全现代的人类有所不同。当单独考虑肋骨时，肋骨曲率、后角、中段横截面尺寸和形状以及肌肉疤痕在尼安德特人之间以及所有样本中都有很大差异。然而，整个胸廓的标准化测量和离散模式清楚地将尼安德特人与我们的比较样本区分开来。这在胸廓下部最为明显，尼安德特人（可能还有更早的智人）的肋骨更大、更圆且有皱纹，肋面积（胸腔容积）也更大。下部肋骨横截面更强壮且肌肉疤痕更多表明通气水平相对较高。与现代人相比，尼安德特人更大的胸腔容积可能反映了更大的体重，因为在哺乳动物中肺容积与体重呈等比例缩放。因此，在胸廓形状存在详细差异的情况下，考虑到体重差异进行标准化后，尼安德特人和现代人的肺容量大致相当。就寒冷气候适应而言，近东地区的尼安德特人在胸廓形状上似乎不如欧洲的同类那样“极度极化”，其他一些身体比例测量在已知的尼安德特人分布范围内呈渐变分布时也是如此。
