Putting Flesh On Bones OBJET 3D PRINTING HELPS SHED LIGHT ON ANCIENT HUMAN EVOLUTION

“Solving the puzzle on a computer screen is challenging, After printing the CT-imaged parts using the Objet 3D Printer, the fossils were much easier to understand.” – Prof. Dr. Christoph P. E. Zollikofer Anthropological Institute, University of Zürich

CASE STUDY

The Anthropological Institute at Zurich University gained new insights into human evolution while investigating Neanderthal brain size at birth in fossils that are about 50,000 years old. Using the remains of a newborn from the Mezmaiskaya Cave (Crimea, Russia) and of two infants from the Dederiyeh Cave (Syria), Prof. Dr. Christoph P. E. Zollikofer and his team were able to procure new insights into brain growth during infancy.

These remarkable findings were further developed using computerized reconstruction techniques on a fragmentary female Neanderthal pelvis discovered by Dorothy Garrod in the early 1930s at the Tabun Cave (Israel). By digitally superimposing the infants on the ‘Tabun Lady’, Prof. Zollikofer Objet Eden 3D printing proved to be a leap forward in anthropological studies. and Dr. Marcia Ponce de Le’on were able to shed new light on Neanderthal obstetrics.

THE 3D PRINTING SOLUTIONS COMPANY™ High-accuracy printing makes Objet the only solution Prof. Gen Suwa of the Tokyo University Museum showed Prof. Zollikofer the At a Glance advantanges of combining 3D printing with anthropological findings. At the time, Challenges • Provide exact computerized the team at Tokyo University was using the system to scan teeth from the hominid reproductions of fossils for fossils and to scale them up to classify and better understand how they evolved. research purposes • Provide detailed models of “The advantages were immediately clear to me,” Prof. Zollikofer said. fossils to facilitate the understanding of anatomic structures “Such a straightforward yet simple application convinced us we needed an Objet • Provide non-invasive replication possibilities to prevent damage 3D Printer in-house,” said Prof. Zollikofer. Although there were other technologies to delicate fossils available, it was clear to him that Objet could best fulfill all his demands. He Solution • Objet Eden250 3D Printer selected the Objet Eden250™ 3D Printer because: “We needed to replicate the Results • Objet models enabled actual fossils with a high level of accuracy. Objet was the only solution that offered researchers to gain new insights us such capabilities.” into female Neanderthals’ anatomical structures, Neanderthal brain size evolution Prof. Zollikofer said that the Objet 3D Printer is also economical. “Often, we have and other aspects of the history of human evolution budgetary constraints,” said Prof. Zollikofer. “Cartridges allow us to purchase • Printing parts from CT images of fossils makes it easier material only when we need it.” and faster to reconstruct the placement of skeletal parts • Revealed features in fossil bone Dederiyeh 1, the fossil Neanderthal skeleton found in the Mezmaiskaya Cave that were otherwise invisible to in Russia, was unique in that the infant was assessed to be one week old upon the eye, including tooth roots and inner ear cavities death. The archeological digging at the Dederiyeh cave lasted for some 15 years. • Exact models of fossils are available for display in museums Putting all the parts together to form the skull took several more years. “Until this and for research finding, we had only older infant brains and had to guess what a newborn’s brain would look like,” explained Prof. Zollikofer. The tooth structure, the size of the skull and the assessed brain size all provided insight into Neanderthal brain evolution.

“Imagine uncovering hundreds of pieces of a puzzle and needing to reconstruct all that on a given plane,” continued Prof. Zollikofer. “Now add to that years of archeological findings and deformations brought as a result of an elapsed timeframe.” Using in-house software developed by the University called Form It, Prof. Zollikofer was able to reconstruct the various Neanderthal brains digitally after scanning the fossils found using micro computed tomography (micro-CT) technology. “Solving the puzzle on a computer screen is challenging,” Prof. Zollikofer said. “After printing the CT-imaged parts using the Objet 3D Printer, the The University of Zurich uses an Objet 3D printer to create fossils were much easier to understand and reconstruct.” accurate replicas of fossil skeletons.

The Objet 3D printer is also used for what is called within the institution ‘quality control’: printing parts to assist in placing fossils in the right configuration. One additional anthropological application for the Objet 3D Printer is called non- Invasive replication. A fossil is a treasure. Once found, it is preserved with the highest possible care, both because of its rarity and because of its brittleness. Prof. Zollikofer scans the fossils and prints the parts using an Objet 3D Printer so they can be used for silicon molding. “It is simply not possible to mold a brittle fossil skull,” Prof. Zollikofer said. “The part is too valuable. But by using scanning technology, the replica can be used for silicon molding.”

The next project: the pelvis of ‘Tabun Lady’ with infant skeleton

THE 3D PRINTING SOLUTIONS COMPANY™ “The Objet 3D Printer makes for a perfect copy of the original,” said Prof. Zollikofer. “This in turn allows experiments to be performed that would otherwise be impossible.”

A replica of fossil skull is printed on Objet 3D Printer.

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