A 75,000-year-old Neanderthal skull made up of more than 100 fragments of bone has been painstakingly put back together and used to create a 3D reconstruction. The remains were discovered in a cave in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which archeologists believe may have been a burial site. Our science editor, Rebecca Morrell, has more.

Revealed for the first time, a face from the ancient past. A female Neanderthal who lived 75,000 years ago. She's been called Shannadar Z. Her face was recreated from this skull unearthed six years ago.

We can say that she's Neanderthal from various features. Perhaps the most obvious one is this quite large brow ridge that runs across above the eyes, but also things like the shape of the nose. So the nose is quite wide at the top.

A detailed analysis suggests she was probably around her mid-forties with particularly worn teeth.

By the time the teeth are getting this worn down, her The chewing is not as effective as it would have been, so she's not able to eat in quite the same way. We've got some other indications of poor dental health, some infections, some gum disease as well. Probably by the time the skeleton and the teeth are this worn, you're actually getting to the natural end of life.

The skull was found like this in profile and completely flattened into a 2 centimeter thick layer.

Transforming the crushed skull into what you can see here has astonishingly difficult. It's made from hundreds of fragments of incredibly fragile bone that have been painstakingly pieced together. It's like the ultimate 3D jigsaw puzzle, and it's taken the best part of a year to complete.

The skeleton was discovered in a cave in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The excavation was followed by a documentary team. Archeologists have been unearthing Neanderthal remains there since the 1950s. They found bones from at least 10 individuals. They think it's a burial site where different groups of Neanderthals brought their dead over many years.

I think it means that they must have cared for each other. They were looking after other members of the group, and that care went on after they died because they were carefully placed and probably covered. There's absolutely no doubt that they maintained a tradition over several hundred years of, This is where you put grandma.

Since the first excavation, the cave has been transforming our understanding of Neanderthals. The species disappeared about 40,000 years ago, while modern humans, that's us, thrived. But now there's evidence from the cave. They use tools, built fires, and cook together.

You're getting into a world where you can see Neanderthals sitting around preparing food, heating them up, some simple cooking going on, and presumably that beginning of socializing in a way. So that's just another example of they're more and more like us.

Rebecca Morrell with that incredible story there.