Warts and all: Researchers reconstruct face of Cro-Magnon man

Cro-Magnon man had a face covered in lumps including a large one on his forehead—likely benign tumours caused by a genetic disease, according to a team of French researchers in new findings published Friday.

The skeleton of Cro-Magnon 1, a male Homo sapiens dating back 28,000 years, was discovered in 1868 in the Eyzies cave in France’s southwestern Dordogne region.

To mark 150 years since the discovery of the bones, a team of researchers including anthropologist Philippe Charlier reexamined the remains.

At the end of their investigation, “we proposed a new diagnosis: he had suffered from a type of neurofibromatosis,” Charlier told AFP.

Neurofibromatosis is a genetic disease which can cause benign tumours to develop in the nervous system, and also spots or areas of pigmentation on the skin. Read more.