The Restored Shanidar I Skull’ 
By T. D. STEWART 
Curator of Physical Anthropology 
Smithsonian Institution 
[With 13 plates] 
THE piscovery of the first adult skeleton in the Mousterian layer 
of Shanidar cave, northern Iraq, was reported in the press in the 
spring of 1957.2. Since then Dr. Ralph Solecki, leader of the expedi- 
tion excavating the cave, has published more details of the find in 
Sumer (1957b) and in the Scientific American (1957a). Now it is 
possible to follow up these reports in a remarkably short time with 
illustrations and a brief description of the restored skull. A fuller 
report on the skull and on certain postcranial parts is in course of 
preparation. 
The work of reconstruction, which the writer carried out in the 
Iraq Museum during the months of October through December 1957, 
was made possible by the farsighted cooperation and generosity of 
the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, the Directorate 
General of Antiquities in Baghdad, and the Smithsonian Institution 
in Washington. 
This account has had to be prepared at the termination of the 
laboratory work and before comparative studies could be undertaken. 
For this reason only very tentative statements regarding the biologi- 
cal significance of the specimen will be made. Mainly I will tell what 
has been accomplished in the way of skull reconstruction and point 
out certain features thereof which affect interpretations. I am in- 
debted to Antran Evan, photographer of the Iraq Museum, for the 
excellent photographs here reproduced. In making the drawings of 
the skull I did not strive for extreme accuracy. My intention was 
merely to supply an interpretation of the photographs. In viewing 
1 Reprinted, with the addition of footnotes and references, by permission from Sumer, 
vol. 14, Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 90—95, 1958. 
4To avoid confusion in the future it should be noted that although an infant was found 
in 1953, only the three adults found in 1957 as yet bear distinguishing numbers. I have 
now decided that Shanidar I is a male around 40 years of age (see Stewart, 1959). 
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