compressed by about 5 - 6 cm. Much of his bones were missing when discovered, and the left tibia had teeth marks. Scavengers likely disposed of parts of his remains. There is evidence that Shanidar 2 was given a ritual send-off: a small pile of stones with some worked stone points (made out of chert) were found on top of his grave. Also, there had been a large fire by the burial site.

Shanidar 2 had a "higher cranial vault", and other skull proportions that did not quite match up to the average Neanderthal