Ever wondered what a Neanderthal skull looks like if it's left in a cave for 150,000 years?

Italian Ministry of Heritage and Culture

The body of the Neanderthal was discovered in the Italian cave by geologists. 

The skeleton had been in the cave for so long that the rock had left calcite formations on the body.

The Altamura Man was discovered in 1993 but has only recently been properly dated using science. For a long time, scientists were not keen on the idea of the skeleton being disturbed but very recently, a group of scientists from the Sapienza University of Rome led by Giorgio Manzi were allowed to remove and do experiments on a small part of the right scapula (shoulder bone). 

The results suggest that the unfortunate Neanderthal who the skeleton belonged to was trapped in the hole between 128,000 and 187,000 years ago.

The boffins have also managed to get DNA out of the bone too, which makes it the most ancient Neanderthal DNA to be captured so far.

Well done scientists. Just no building theme parks using that DNA, okay?

Source: mirror.co.uk