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The Neanderthals may have lost against homo sapiens in the evolutionary battle for survival, but as time goes by we are learning more and more similarities between species and, according to new research, this extends to the education of children.
A new study used geochemical and histological techniques to examine three Neanderthal milk teeth, finding these babies started on solid food at the age of about 5 or 6 months … just like modern humans in fact.
The teeth have ring-like growth lines within a tree trunk, marking changes in development and diet that scientists have been able to identify. It helps remove some of the mystery about how Neanderthal babies were born and raised.
(Stefano Benazzi)
“Now, we know that Neanderthals also started weaning their offspring when modern humans do,” says anthropologist Alessia Nava of the University of Kent in the UK.
“The onset of weaning is linked to physiology rather than cultural factors. In modern humans, in fact, the first introduction of solid food occurs around 6 months of age when the child needs a more energetic food supply, and is shared by many different cultures and societies “.
The teeth were originally recovered from northeastern Italy and have been dated between 45,000 and 70,000 years. Very thin tooth slices were cut, analyzed and then reconstructed.
An analysis of strontium isotopes in tooth enamel was included in the study. Comparing the chemical composition with contemporary rodents and human teeth revealed that Neanderthals perhaps stayed closer to home than previously thought.
As with humans, it appears that it was the growing brain and its demands for extra fuel that promoted Neanderthal weaning. If that’s correct, it means that experts can deduce more details about our evolutionary cousins.
“The results of this work imply similar energy demands during early childhood and a close growth rate between homo sapiens and Neanderthal “, says anthropologist Stefano Benazzi, of the University of Bologna in Italy.
“Taken together, these factors could suggest that Neanderthal infants had a similar weight to modern human infants, indicating a similar probable gestational history and early childhood ontogenesis and potentially shorter inter-birth interval.”
One of the hypotheses put forward for the eventual disappearance of Neanderthals is that a long period of breastfeeding reduced fertility rates, ultimately allowing homo sapiens to overcome them. This idea is not supported by this new study, the researchers say.
Exactly why modern-day humans survived and Neanderthals haven’t continued to intrigue scientists, and many questions remain about how these ancient people lived and died, some of which this new research may help answer.
Baby teeth begin to form in the womb, and thus tooth analysis can also tell us something about the diets and lives of mothers and babies, but this will need to be a topic for future research, say the study authors.
The research was published in PNAS.
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