An exceptionally preserved Neanderthal skeleton from southern Italy offers the first glimpse of a complete nasal cavity in any ancient human fossil, challenging long-held ideas that these extinct relatives had noses specially adapted to frigid climates.
The inner nose of this early Neanderthal, dated to between about 172,000 and 130,000 years ago, lacks features previously proposed as unique to the species Homo neanderthalensis, such as a vertically oriented projection on the nasal wall or a distinctive swelling, say paleoanthropologist Costantino Buzi of the University of Perugia in Italy and colleagues. Instead, the structures resemble those in modern humans, the researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Discovered in 1993 in a sealed cave near the town of Altamura, the skeleton is covered in calcite deposits that helped preserve even fragile bones like the turbinates — spongy structures inside the nose that help warm and humidify air — and the thin plates dividing the nasal passages. Using endoscopic cameras and digital reconstruction, the team examined these delicate parts, which are usually damaged or missing in fossils.
The findings suggest that Neanderthals didn’t evolve special nasal traits to cope with cold air, despite living during a cooler period in Europe. The region’s climate at the time, around Marine Isotopic Stage 6, was temperate in southern Italy, with average temperatures between 8 and 16 degrees Celsius — more like a mild Mediterranean zone than an icy tundra. This supports the idea that Neanderthals in this area didn’t face the extreme conditions that might drive such adaptations.
Yet the Altamura nose does show some intriguing differences. Its cavity appears elongated forward, likely tied to the Neanderthals’ characteristic forward-jutting midface, known as midfacial prognathism. This projection creates extra space in the front of the nose, but the functional part — where air is conditioned — looks packed with turbinates, potentially making it efficient at conserving heat and moisture during breathing. Narrow airways like this could have helped Neanderthals recover warmth from exhaled air, even with their wide nasal openings, which might seem counterintuitive for cold weather.
For decades, scientists have debated whether Neanderthal faces, with their prominent noses and projecting midfaces, evolved to handle harsh Ice Age environments. Early ideas linked the shape directly to better air conditioning in cold, dry air, but more recent views point to a mix of factors, including inherited archaic traits, developmental patterns, and high energy needs from their stocky builds. The Altamura specimen, as one of the oldest full Neanderthals known, adds weight to this multifaceted explanation, showing that the inner nose didn’t drive the facial projection but rather followed it.
Other proposed unique features, like the absence of a bony roof over a groove near the eye, couldn’t be fully assessed due to the cave’s concretions, but the researchers argue simplicity favors ruling it out as a Neanderthal specialty. This early individual also blends traits from even older human relatives, hinting at diverse populations within the species.
The discovery opens doors for future studies, such as modeling airflow in Neanderthal noses with real fossil data instead of estimates. For now, it reframes the Neanderthal nose not as a cold-weather marvel, but as an efficient setup built on an ancient facial foundation.
Citations: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2426309122.
