This allowed them to chew solid foods quite early to meet the energy needs of their slightly larger brains.

Normally, the first milk teeth erupt when a child is between six and nine months old. It often starts with the lower incisors, then the two middle upper incisors, and then the teeth on either side of them. But when did the first baby teeth actually appear in our distant cousins, the Neanderthals? Thanks to a new study We now know better the answer to that question.

slow growth

Modern people are known to grow up quite slowly. Our childhood extends over a long period of time compared to animals. But to what extent this was also the case with Neanderthals is a matter of debate. Although Neanderthals are our closest cousins ​​in the human evolutionary tree, we still know relatively little about their growth rate. Part of the problem is that we have limited knowledge about the growth of Neanderthal babies in the months before and just after birth.

Neanderthal Babies

However, a new study expands our knowledge a bit again. Scientists have succeeded in studying the milk teeth of three Neanderthal babies who lived about 120,000-130,000 years ago. “We analyzed the inside of the baby teeth using synchrotron radiation,” said researcher Alessia Nava. “It also helped us discover the exact moment when these Neanderthals were born.”

A milk incisor of a Neanderthal baby. Image: Patrick Mahoney

Four months

It leads to a unique insight into the growth of these Neanderthal babies. Because the researchers discover that Neanderthals may have formed teeth before birth. These baby teeth then erupt about four months after they were born. And that’s before us.

For a long time, Neanderthals were portrayed as dumb and clumsy cavemen who hunted mammoths with simple spears. But increasingly, researchers are coming up with evidence showing that our distant cousins ​​were much smarter and more resourceful. They were probably as intelligent as we are, used specialized tools, and in many ways are actually much more like us than we thought. Apparently there was a strong need to find ourselves, as anatomical modern humans, unique and to place ourselves above them. But as is increasingly apparent, Neanderthals and modern humans actually have quite a lot in common.

It means that Neanderthal babies had baby teeth before modern humans. “Our study reveals that Neanderthals had accelerated tooth development compared to a typical modern human child,” said Patrick Mahoney. An interesting follow-up question is, of course, why this is so. And the researchers have ideas about that too.

Brain

According to the team, early milk teeth enabled Neanderthals to eat solid foods from an early age; rather than is the case for modern human babies. This helped Neanderthals meet the energy needs of their brains, which are thought to be slightly larger than ours. These findings are consistent with previous studies showing evidence of rapid brain growth in Neanderthal children. And this growth probably required more energy, which requires solid food and therefore teeth.

The study provides us with more insight into our closest relatives. It adds an important new piece to the puzzling picture of Neanderthals; a human species that is so close to us but at the same time not yet fully in control. More research is therefore needed to fully map out the complex evolutionary history.