engleski

Neanderthal infant growth reconstructed from virtual histology of deciduous teeth

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 fossil primates. 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 reconstruct the development of five isolated deciduous teeth of three Neanderthals from Krapina (120-130 ka) in Croatia using phase-contrast synchrotron radiation computed microtomography at the Elettra synchrotron facility in Trieste (Italy). Results reveal regions of Neanderthal milk teeth formed quickly before birth, and over a relatively short period of time after birth. We estimated that a deciduous central incisor emerged towards the earliest end of the eruption schedules displayed by extant human children. Our data provide evidence that the year after birth was a period of relatively advanced somatic growth for the Neanderthal infants of Krapina. Advanced dental development is consistent with expectations for Neanderthal infant feeding.

Krapina Neandertals ; deciduous dentition ; infant growth

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