The state of cranial suture fusion, and other skeletal indicators, were consistent with middle age or older by Neanderthal standards.

The working description settled on: an adult female Neanderthal, probably middle-aged, who had lived approximately 75,000 years ago.

The dating itself came from the stratigraphic position of the remains — the specific sediment layer in which she was found — combined with radiocarbon dating of associated organic material and other chronometric methods applied to the deposits.

The 75,000-year figure is an estimate, with appropriate margins of error, but it places Shanidar Z firmly within the Middle Paleolithic occupation of the cave, well before the arrival of anatomically modern humans in the region.

How the Face Was Built