War Dance (Anatomy Study - Neanderthal)

Here is my latest anatomy study - I was fascinated by a couple of documentaries on Neanderthals that I've watched recently and thought a Neanderthal would make a cool anatomy study. I took inspiration for the pose from the Haka and the documentaries stating that Homo Neanderthalensis had stone tools and weapons and also culture. Though shorter than humans they had large barrel chests and large noses, it is thought as adaptations to the cold but it may have also been in order to suck in enough oxygen to power their muscular frames. Neanderthal bones have a high frequency of fractures, which (along with their distribution) are similar to injuries among professional rodeo riders who regularly interact with large, dangerous animals.

I'm tempted to take this further and create a realtime Neanderthal Shaman or Warrior in the future as it was a fun one! Everything was sculpted by hand from various primitives in Zbrush, apart from the axe heads that were a free scan of a neolithic stone axe head on SketchFab and the Teeth and eyebrows which are from the 3dscanstore. Rendered out in Marmoset Toolbag and anatomy labels done in Photoshop.