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Surprisingly rapid growth in Neanderthals

Abstract

Life-history traits correlate closely with dental growth1, so differences in dental growth within Homo can enable us to determine how somatic development has evolved and to identify developmental shifts that warrant species-level distinctions2,3,4. Dental growth can be determined from the speed of enamel formation (or extension rate)5,6. We analysed the enamel extension rate in Homo antecessor (8 teeth analysed), Homo heidelbergensis (106), Homo neanderthalensis (‘Neanderthals’; 146) and Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic Homo sapiens (100). Here we report that Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic H. sapiens shared an identical dental development pattern with modern humans, but that H. antecessor and H. heidelbergensis had shorter periods of dental growth. Surprisingly, Neanderthals were characterized by having the shortest period of dental growth. Because dental growth is an excellent indicator of somatic development1, our results suggest that Neanderthals developed faster even than their immediate ancestor, H. heidelbergensis. Dental growth became longer and brain size increased from the Plio-Pleistocene in hominid evolution. Neanderthals, despite having a large brain, were characterized by a short period of development. This autapomorphy in growth is an evolutionary reversal, and points strongly to a specific distinction between H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.

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Figure 1: Perikymata packing and rates of crown formation.
Figure 2: Lower canine crown height in Homo species (µm).

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Radovcic, G. Jambresic, H. and M.-A. de Lumley, M. Tavoso, D. Grimaud-Hervé, Ph. Mennecier, A. Chech, J. Léopold-Kerymel, C. Schwab, G. Manzi, J. Egocheaga, C. Barroso-Ruiz, D. Gommery, J. Chaline, J.-L. Arsuaga and E. Carbonel for access to fossils under their care; A. Vialet, M. Tersis, M.-F. Leroy, M. Garcia, C. Fitzgerald, C. Dean, M. Fineberg and M. Sardi for help in different aspects of this research; and C. Dean, C. Fitzgerald, D. Reid, H. Liversidge and L. Bondioli for discussions on dental growth. This work was supported by the CNRS program OHLL (J.J. Hublin) and by the Spanish Government.

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Correspondence to Fernando V. Ramirez Rozzi.

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Ramirez Rozzi, F., Bermudez de Castro, J. Surprisingly rapid growth in Neanderthals. Nature 428, 936–939 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02428

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