Hollywood star helps bring Neanderthal to life
Undated handout photo issued by the Natural History Museum of a CGI Neanderthal, which has been created with the help of Hollywood star Andy Serkis, who has collaborated with the museum and scientists for a BBC2 series. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday May 10, 2018. The CGI Neanderthal is based on a skull, nicknamed Ned, which was found in a cave in Iraq. See PA story SHOWBIZ Serkis. Photo credit should read: VixPix/BBC/NHM/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Lord Of The Rings star Andy Serkis has helped create a 3D animated avatar of a real Neanderthal as part of a BBC documentary that features Gibraltar’s Gorham’s Cave.
The Hollywood star collaborated with scientists and the Natural History Museum for a BBC Two series that starts this weekend.
The CGI Neanderthal is based on a skull, nicknamed Ned, which was found in a cave in Iraq.
The series reconstructs Ned's face, as a fit and healthy young man and how he would have looked later, at the time of his death.
Ned survived a major injury, which fractured his skull, injured his brain and is thought to have blinded him in one eye, around 20 years before his death.
The avatar of Ned's body is based on a skeleton, which suffered a lower arm amputation, of a Neanderthal from the Smithsonian Museum.
Undated handout photo issued by the Natural History Museum of Andy Serkis, who has collaborated with the museum and scientist to help create a 3D animated avatar of a real Neanderthal for a BBC2 series. The CGI Neanderthal is based on a skull, nicknamed Ned, which was found in a cave in Iraq. Photo credit: VixPix/BBC/NHM/PA Wire
Serkis used his body and facial movement to help reconstruct a Neanderthal hunt, showing how Neanderthals - which were shorter but stronger and faster across short distances than modern humans - used their immense strength and speed to ambush and bring down huge animals like woolly mammoths.
The series, presented by Ella Al-Shamahi, explores new research on "the Neanderthal mind", examines evidence of possible Neanderthal art in Gibraltar’s cave complex and an "apparent penchant for dressing up in vulture feathers".
And computer modelling of a "Neanderthal vocal track" allows researchers to hear what a Neanderthal may have sounded like 40,000 years after they became extinct.
The Natural History Museum's human evolutions expert Professor Chris Stringer said: "I never thought it would be possible to bring a Neanderthal to life with so much scientific accuracy.”
"It was a delight to see Andy Serkis conjure him with such skill - giving this authentic visualisation a personality through expression and movement that immediately conveys just how close to Neanderthals we are."
Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors begins at 8pm on Sunday on BBC Two.
Photos by: VixPix/BBC/NHM/PA Wire
