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Early life of Neanderthals

2020; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 117; Issue: 46 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.2011765117

1091-6490

Alessia Nava, Federico Lugli, Matteo Romandini, Federica Badino, David Evans, Angela H. Helbling, Gregorio Oxilia, Simona Arrighi, Eugenio Bortolini, Davide Delpiano, Rossella Duches, Carla Figus, Alessandra Livraghi, Giulia Marciani, Sara Silvestrini, Anna Cipriani, Tommaso Giovanardi, Roberta Pini, Claudio Tuniz, Federico Bernardini, Irene Dori, Alfredo Coppa, Emanuela Cristiani, Christopher Dean, Luca Bondioli, Marco Peresani, Wolfgang Müller, Stefano Benazzi,

Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Significance The extent to which Neanderthals differ from us is the focus of many studies in human evolution. There is debate about their pace of growth and early-life metabolic constraints, both of which are still poorly understood. Here we use chemical and isotopic patterns in tandem with enamel growth rates of three Neanderthal milk teeth from northeastern Italy to explore the early life of these individuals. Our study shows that these Neanderthals started to wean children at 5 to 6 months, akin to modern humans, implying similar energy demands during early infancy. Dental growth rates confirm this and follow trajectories comparable with modern humans. Contrary to previous evidence, we suggest that differences in weaning age did not contribute to Neanderthals’ demise.