A Neandertal parietal fragment from Krapina (Croatia) with a serious cranial trauma

Neandertal bones with various signs of trauma are not uncommon in the fossil record. This includes a number of cranial injuries. One of the most serious is described here, located on a partial right parietal bone of an adult from Krapina. The wound is a large one, and the edges show clear signs of the deposition of woven bone, documenting the process of healing and demonstrating that the injury was not immediately mortal. Although there has been a great deal of debate, the available evidence does not permit any but the most general speculations about whether these traumas were caused by violence or accident. It is suggested here that the most reasonable explanation concerns the rise of head injury to people who habitually lived and slept in caves. Because of the large number of variables that can affect the seriousness of head trauma, it is not possible to reconstruct the level of neurological injury and possible incapacitation of the individual involved.