May 23rd, 2016: Altamura Man

[xoxoxoBruce]

In 1993, a team of speleologist probing a karst borehole in the Altamura Murgia region, near the Italian city of Altamura,
stumbled upon a near-complete skeleton of an archaic hominid, one of the many species of the family Hominidae
belonging to the genus Homo, that walked the earth before modern human beings evolved.

Usually, specimens such as this are removed and relocated to a lab or museum so that they can be studied.
But when researchers tried to remove the skeleton, they found it had become embedded in the rock. Droplets of calcified
limestone, that dripped from the cave’s ceiling for thousands of years, had not only fused the skeleton to the cave walls but
had also formed a thick layer over the bones giving the “Altamura Man” a ghoulish appearance.

But recent studies have showed beyond doubt, that the Altamura Man is a Neanderthal, and had lived between 150,000
and 250,000 years ago. Researchers were even able to extract DNA from a bone sample. These are the oldest DNA
ever recovered from a Neanderthal. By using sophisticated photogrammetry and laser scanning of the encrusted skeleton,
combined with data from the DNA analysis, scientist have now created a hyper-realistic model representing how the
Altamura Man might have looked like.

Looks like The Mexican.
link