Early life of Neanderthals

The early onset of weaning in modern humans has been linked to the high nutritional demand of brain development that is intimately connected with infant physiology and growth rate. In Neanderthals, ontogenetic patterns in early life are still debated, with some studies suggesting an accelerated deve...

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Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 117; no. 46; pp. 28719 - 28726
Main Authors:	Nava, Alessia, Lugli, Federico, Romandini, Matteo, Badino, Federica, Evans, David, Helbling, Angela H., Oxilia, Gregorio, Arrighi, Simona, Bortolini, Eugenio, Delpiano, Davide, Duches, Rossella, Figus, Carla, Livraghi, Alessandra, Marciani, Giulia, Silvestrini, Sara, Cipriani, Anna, Giovanardi, Tommaso, Pini, Roberta, Tuniz, Claudio, Bernardini, Federico, Dori, Irene, Coppa, Alfredo, Cristiani, Emanuela, Dean, Christopher, Bondioli, Luca, Peresani, Marco, Müller, Wolfgang, Benazzi, Stefano
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States National Academy of Sciences 17-11-2020
Subjects:	Animals Biological Sciences Dental enamel Dental Enamel - chemistry Dental Enamel - growth & development Growth rate Histomorphometry Hominids Humans Infant Infant, Newborn Neanderthals - growth & development Nursing Ontogeny Physical Sciences Teeth Weaning spatially resolved chemical analyses nursing strategy Neanderthal ontogeny dental histology life histories
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Summary:	The early onset of weaning in modern humans has been linked to the high nutritional demand of brain development that is intimately connected with infant physiology and growth rate. In Neanderthals, ontogenetic patterns in early life are still debated, with some studies suggesting an accelerated development and others indicating only subtle differences vs. modern humans. Here we report the onset of weaning and rates of enamel growth using an unprecedented sample set of three late (∼70 to 50 ka) Neanderthals and one Upper Paleolithic modern human from northeastern Italy via spatially resolved chemical/isotopic analyses and histomorphometry of deciduous teeth. Our results reveal that the modern human nursing strategy, with onset of weaning at 5 to 6 mo, was present among these Neanderthals. This evidence, combined with dental development akin to modern humans, highlights their similar metabolic constraints during early life and excludes late weaning as a factor contributing to Neanderthals’ demise.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Edited by Noreen Tuross, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Richard G. Klein September 21, 2020 (received for review June 8, 2020) 1A.N. and F.L. contributed equally to this work. Author contributions: A.N., F.L., M.R., C.D., L.B., M.P., W.M., and S.B. designed research; A.N., F.L., D.E., A.H.H., S.S., A. Cipriani, T.G., C.D., L.B., W.M., and S.B. performed research; S.A., D.D., R.D., C.F., A.L., G.M., R.P., C.T., F. Bernardini, I.D., A. Coppa, and E.C. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.N., F.L., D.E., A.H.H., G.O., E.B., L.B., W.M., and S.B. analyzed data; A.N., F.L., M.R., F. Badino, D.E., C.D., L.B., M.P., W.M., and S.B. wrote the paper; M.R., D.D., R.D., A.L., and M.P. coordinated archaeological excavations; F. Badino and R.P. produced ecological framework; A.H.H. and A. Cipriani revised the manuscript; G.O., S.A., C.F., G.M., I.D., A. Coppa, and E.C. curated, sampled and/or described analyzed teeth; and C.T. and F. Bernardini produced the microtomographic record.
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.2011765117