The Neanderthal skeletons from the site had long since been removed, but there was still hope that some stray bit, like a tooth, might be found.

"Among the bones that I dug up this morning was an almost complete Neanderthal skeleton," Rosa said.

Dr. Trinkaus compared the limb proportions with Neanderthal skeletons, including some children.

It is, the museum says, the first composite reconstruction of a full Neanderthal skeleton based on actual fossils.

Similar abnormalities show up in Neanderthal skeletons; hence the popular images of Neanderthals squatting by their fires.

La Ferrassie 1 is a male Neanderthal skeleton estimated to be 70-50,000 years old.

Working with paleontologists, technicians at the museum have assembled the first virtually complete reconstruction of a Neanderthal skeleton.

Hunting large game at close range is perilous, and Neanderthal skeletons bear copious fractures.

Within the west Asian and European record, there are five broad groups of pathology or injury noted in Neanderthal skeletons.

Neanderthal skeletons very often show evidence of disease or disfigurement.