WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A study published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that one of the modern human's close relatives in prehistoric times had double S-shaped spine similar to modern humans.
Researchers from University of Zurich reconstructed in the computer the pelvis and spine of a very well-preserved Neanderthal skeleton found in France and found that the Neanderthals had a curved lumbar region and neck, just like the humans of today.
The Neanderthals were previously depicted as having straight spines and poor posture, thus only able to walk partially upright.
They found that the Neanderthals' sacrum was positioned in the same way as in modern humans, suggesting that they had a lumbar region with a well-developed curvature.
The spinal curvature was even more pronounced by putting together the individual lumbar and cervical vertebrae, according to the researchers.
Also, the wear marks in the hip joint of the skeleton showed that the Neanderthals had an upright posture.
"On the whole, there is hardly any evidence that would point to Neanderthals having a fundamentally different anatomy," said the paper's co-author Martin Haeusler, a specialist in evolutionary medicine at University of Zurich.
