Read moreScientists have unearthed rare, ancient human remains in silts close to the River Seine in France.
The left arm bones are dated to about 200,000 years ago, and look to be Neanderthal – although the researchers say that with no other fossils it is impossible to make a full description
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Not much can be said about the individual because it is represented solely by the three long bones of the arm – the humerus, ulna and radius.
Their robustness would support a Neanderthal interpretation, says the team, and they could have come from a juvenile or young adult.
One interesting observation is a raised crest, or ridge, on the upper-arm bone that may be the result of muscle damage at the shoulder.
The team speculates in its paper that the individual might have been hurt by repeatedly throwing something.
The scarring looks very similar to what has been documented in professional throwing athletes.
“We have a particular morphology on the humerus where we have this very important crest that is related probably to a specific movement – a specific movement that has been repeated by this individual,” Dr Maureille told the BBC.
“Right at that point, we have a kind of micro-trauma, which could be related to a movement that is more difficult, and it has created this strange relief.”
Quite what that repetitive movement might have been is open to debate.
“If the evidence for the strong development of the deltoid region on the humerus has been interpreted correctly, this could provide an important clue that thrown spears were already in use in Europe about 200,000 years ago, something which many experts have questioned,” commented Chris Stringer from the Natural History Museum in London.
“There has been a widespread view that Neanderthals and earlier humans were reliant on thrusting spears, used for dangerous close-range confrontational hunting, and that only modern humans perfected launched projectiles – that view could now be questioned.”
tool use
Read moreAround 50,000 years ago, there is widespread evidence of producing bone and antler tools, heat-treated and flaked flint, projectile weapons, grindstones, fishing and birding equipment and a command of fire.
“Was this driven by a brain mutation, cooked foods, the advent of language or just population density?”
Dr Hare and his colleagues argue that human society advanced when people started being nicer to each other, which entails having a little less testosterone in action.
“If prehistoric people began living closer together and passing down new technologies, they’d have to be tolerant of each other. The key to our success is the ability to cooperate and get along and learn from one another,” said Robert Cieri, a student at the University of Utah and the first author on the study published in the journal Current Anthropology.
In their study, the scientists compared the brow ridge, facial shape and interior volume of 13 modern human skulls older than 80,000 years, 41 skulls from 10,000 to 38,000 years ago, and a global sample of 1,367 20th century skulls from 30 different ethnic populations.
The trend that emerged was toward a reduction in the brow ridge and a shortening of the upper face, traits which generally reflect a reduction in the action of testosterone.
“Heavy brows were out, rounder heads were in, and those changes can be traced directly to testosterone levels acting on the skeleton,” said Prof Steven Churchill of Duke University, a co-author on the study.
The Committee to Nuke Elysium 