Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120-130 ka), Croatia

Patrick Mahoney; Gina McFarlane; B. Holly Smith; Justyna J. Miszkiewicz; Paola Cerrito; Helen Liversidge; Lucia Mancini; Diego Dreossi; Alessio Veneziano; Federico Bernardini; Emanuela Cristiani; Alison Behie; Alfredo Coppa; Luca Bondioli; David W. Frayer; Davorka Radovčić; Alessia Nava

doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.2079

Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120-130 ka), Croatia

Patrick Mahoney^*, Gina McFarlane, B. Holly Smith, Justyna J. Miszkiewicz, Paola Cerrito, Helen Liversidge, Lucia Mancini, Diego Dreossi, Alessio Veneziano, Federico Bernardini, Emanuela Cristiani, Alison Behie, Alfredo Coppa, Luca Bondioli, David W. Frayer, Davorka Radovčić, Alessia Nava

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Modern humans have a slow and extended period of childhood growth, but to what extent this ontogenetic pathway was present in Neanderthals is debated. Dental development, linked to the duration of somatic growth across modern primates, is the main source for information about growth and development in a variety of fossil primates, including humans. Studies of Neanderthal permanent teeth report a pace of development either similar to recent humans or relatively accelerated. Neanderthal milk teeth, which form and emerge before permanent teeth, provide an opportunity to determine which pattern was present at birth. Here we present a comparative study of the prenatal and early postnatal growth of five milk teeth from three Neanderthals (120 000-130 000 years ago) using virtual histology. Results reveal regions of their milk teeth formed quickly before birth and over a relatively short period of time after birth. Tooth emergence commenced towards the earliest end of the eruption schedules displayed by extant human children. Advanced dental development is consistent with expectations for Neanderthal infant feeding.

Original language	English
Article number	20212079
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume	288
Issue number	1963
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2079
Publication status	Published - 2021

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Mahoney, P., McFarlane, G., Smith, B. H., Miszkiewicz, J. J., Cerrito, P., Liversidge, H., Mancini, L., Dreossi, D., Veneziano, A., Bernardini, F., Cristiani, E., Behie, A., Coppa, A., Bondioli, L., Frayer, D. W., Radovčić, D., & Nava, A. (2021). Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120-130 ka), Croatia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1963), Article 20212079. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2079

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title = "Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120-130 ka), Croatia",

abstract = "Modern humans have a slow and extended period of childhood growth, but to what extent this ontogenetic pathway was present in Neanderthals is debated. Dental development, linked to the duration of somatic growth across modern primates, is the main source for information about growth and development in a variety of fossil primates, including humans. Studies of Neanderthal permanent teeth report a pace of development either similar to recent humans or relatively accelerated. Neanderthal milk teeth, which form and emerge before permanent teeth, provide an opportunity to determine which pattern was present at birth. Here we present a comparative study of the prenatal and early postnatal growth of five milk teeth from three Neanderthals (120 000-130 000 years ago) using virtual histology. Results reveal regions of their milk teeth formed quickly before birth and over a relatively short period of time after birth. Tooth emergence commenced towards the earliest end of the eruption schedules displayed by extant human children. Advanced dental development is consistent with expectations for Neanderthal infant feeding.",

keywords = "dental development, evolutionary biology, fossil hominins, human evolution, virtual histology",

author = "Patrick Mahoney and Gina McFarlane and Smith, {B. Holly} and Miszkiewicz, {Justyna J.} and Paola Cerrito and Helen Liversidge and Lucia Mancini and Diego Dreossi and Alessio Veneziano and Federico Bernardini and Emanuela Cristiani and Alison Behie and Alfredo Coppa and Luca Bondioli and Frayer, {David W.} and Davorka Radov{\v c}i{\'c} and Alessia Nava",

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year = "2021",

doi = "10.1098/rspb.2021.2079",

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Mahoney, P, McFarlane, G, Smith, BH, Miszkiewicz, JJ, Cerrito, P, Liversidge, H, Mancini, L, Dreossi, D, Veneziano, A, Bernardini, F, Cristiani, E, Behie, A, Coppa, A, Bondioli, L, Frayer, DW, Radovčić, D & Nava, A 2021, 'Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120-130 ka), Croatia', Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 288, no. 1963, 20212079. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2079

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AU - Mahoney, Patrick

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AU - Cerrito, Paola

AU - Liversidge, Helen

AU - Mancini, Lucia

AU - Dreossi, Diego

AU - Veneziano, Alessio

AU - Bernardini, Federico

AU - Cristiani, Emanuela

AU - Behie, Alison

AU - Coppa, Alfredo

AU - Bondioli, Luca

AU - Frayer, David W.

AU - Radovčić, Davorka

AU - Nava, Alessia

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Modern humans have a slow and extended period of childhood growth, but to what extent this ontogenetic pathway was present in Neanderthals is debated. Dental development, linked to the duration of somatic growth across modern primates, is the main source for information about growth and development in a variety of fossil primates, including humans. Studies of Neanderthal permanent teeth report a pace of development either similar to recent humans or relatively accelerated. Neanderthal milk teeth, which form and emerge before permanent teeth, provide an opportunity to determine which pattern was present at birth. Here we present a comparative study of the prenatal and early postnatal growth of five milk teeth from three Neanderthals (120 000-130 000 years ago) using virtual histology. Results reveal regions of their milk teeth formed quickly before birth and over a relatively short period of time after birth. Tooth emergence commenced towards the earliest end of the eruption schedules displayed by extant human children. Advanced dental development is consistent with expectations for Neanderthal infant feeding.

AB - Modern humans have a slow and extended period of childhood growth, but to what extent this ontogenetic pathway was present in Neanderthals is debated. Dental development, linked to the duration of somatic growth across modern primates, is the main source for information about growth and development in a variety of fossil primates, including humans. Studies of Neanderthal permanent teeth report a pace of development either similar to recent humans or relatively accelerated. Neanderthal milk teeth, which form and emerge before permanent teeth, provide an opportunity to determine which pattern was present at birth. Here we present a comparative study of the prenatal and early postnatal growth of five milk teeth from three Neanderthals (120 000-130 000 years ago) using virtual histology. Results reveal regions of their milk teeth formed quickly before birth and over a relatively short period of time after birth. Tooth emergence commenced towards the earliest end of the eruption schedules displayed by extant human children. Advanced dental development is consistent with expectations for Neanderthal infant feeding.

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KW - evolutionary biology

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JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

IS - 1963

M1 - 20212079

ER -

Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120-130 ka), Croatia

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