Look: Ancient teeth hints at a similarity between Neanderthal and human brains

Chomp chomp by Jennifer Walter November 24, 2021 Dr. Patrick Mahoney

For all we know about the adult lives of ancient Neanderthals, we know even less about their childhoods.

Joe McNally/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Print Collector/Hulton Archive/Getty Images That’s because very few fossils of Neanderthal children and babies have been discovered — save for a few specimens here and there.

Tracing their early years could shed light on how Neanderthals developed. The answers we glean may in turn illuminate other mysteries, such as how their mental and physical capabilities compared to those of ancient humans. Shutterstock

Shutterstock We know that Neanderthals had baby teeth, just like humans. These teeth can reveal how quickly Neanderthal children began eating solid food — a developmental milestone that correlates with a period of accelerated brain growth.

Westend61/Westend61/Getty Images In a new study published Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B , researchers describe baby teeth samples from three Neanderthals. They sought to find out how quickly these teeth grew in.

xbrchx/500Px Plus/Getty Images The teeth were discovered in Krapina, Croatia. They’re the remains of Neanderthals that lived about 130,000 years ago.

Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix/Getty Images Human babies typically get their first teeth — incisors — in the front of their mouths between 6-10 months old. Molars and canines grow more slowly.

The researchers found that the rate of tooth growth in Neanderthals was similar to human babies, and in some cases even faster.

PeopleImages/E+/Getty Images Past analysis suggests Neanderthal infants may have been able to start processing food besides their mother’s milk at as early as 4 months old.

The research on the Krapina infants comes to a similar conclusion. However, faster development is not necessarily a good thing. ilbusca/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images

Shutterstock Study co-author B. Holly Smith tells Inverse that faster growth can indicate higher rates of mortality in a species.

Sanja Baljkas/Moment Unreleased/Getty Images “As the risk of death before reproduction increases, pressure to grow, develop, and reproduce earlier increases.” B. Holly Smith, to Inverse

Shutterstock If teeth appeared earlier in Neanderthals, it may mean their brains and bodies may have developed — and aged — more quickly than humans, too.

Look: Ancient teeth hints at a similarity between Neanderthal and human brains

For all we know about the adult lives of ancient Neanderthals, we know even less about their childhoods.

The researchers found that the rate of tooth growth in Neanderthals was similar to human babies, and in some cases even faster.

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