Neanderthals Walked Flatter, More Flexible, Heel Bone Scans Show
3D scans of seven Neanderthal heel bones show a shorter, wider, taller shape than modern human heels. University of Bologna researchers say it suggests a flatter, inward-rolling foot built for heavy loads and rough ground. The study appears in the Journal of Human Evolution.
Neanderthals walked with flatter, more flexible feet than modern humans, according to a University of Bologna study of fossil heel bones published in the October 2026 issue of the Journal of Human Evolution.
The heel and ankle joints suggest Neanderthals typically walked with a flatter, inward-rolling foot. The researchers say the shape fits heavy bodies and long days on uneven ground.
What the scans compared
The team used 3D scans of seven Neanderthal heel bones, known as calcanei, and 64 from Homo sapiens. The Neanderthal bones came from La Ferrassie, La Chapelle, Regourdou, El Sidrón and Spy.
The modern human sample ran from Ice Age hunter-gatherers to residents of 19th- and 20th-century Bologna.
Using a method called geometric morphometrics, which captures a bone's shape with hundreds of digital points, the scientists found that Neanderthal heels differed consistently from every modern human group.
A sturdier heel
The Neanderthal heel bone was shorter front to back, wider side to side and taller from top to bottom. The authors read this as a sturdier bone suited to carrying heavy loads and covering long distances.
Size was not the difference. Neanderthal heel bones fell within the modern human range, so the distinction lies in shape.
"The robustness of the heel reflects the overall body structure of Neanderthals, which is characterized by a remarkable muscular and bone mass and an extremely intense level of physical activity," said Professor Maria Giovanna Belcastro of the University of Bologna.
Shoes and slender heels
Early Homo sapiens from the Middle East, dated to roughly 120,000 to 90,000 years ago, showed similar traits, though less pronounced. So did later hunter-gatherers. Those groups were probably highly mobile and walked barefoot or in soft foot coverings.
The Bologna sample was the most sedentary. Its members habitually wore heavy shoes and boots, and their heel bones were the most slender.
Belcastro said the work points to more than genes. "The morphology of our skeleton is not only the product of a strict genetic program, but also the consequence of physical stimuli and our daily life habits," she said.
She added that the results open "fascinating prospects for dialogue between evolutionary anthropology and clinical orthopedics." The paper, led by Rita Sorrentino and colleagues, is titled "Neanderthal's heel: How the Neanderthal's external calcaneal shape uniquely differs from that of modern humans" (Journal of Human Evolution 219: 103887).
