Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2021 Nov 24;288(1963):20212079. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2079.
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 a variety of fossil primates, including humans. 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 present a comparative study of the prenatal and early postnatal growth of five milk teeth from three Neanderthals (120 000-130 000 years ago) using virtual histology. Results reveal regions of their milk teeth formed quickly before birth and over a relatively short period of time after birth. Tooth emergence commenced towards the earliest end of the eruption schedules displayed by extant human children. Advanced dental development is consistent with expectations for Neanderthal infant feeding.
现代人的儿童生长阶段缓慢且持续时间较长，但尼安德特人在多大程度上具有这种个体发生途径仍存在争议。与现代灵长类动物的体生长持续时间相关的牙齿发育是了解各种化石灵长类动物（包括人类）生长和发育的主要信息来源。对尼安德特人恒齿的研究报告称，其发育速度要么与现代人相似，要么相对较快。形成于恒齿之前并萌出的乳齿为确定出生时存在哪种模式提供了机会。在这里，我们使用虚拟组织学对来自三个尼安德特人（12 万至 13 万年前）的五颗乳齿的产前和早期产后生长进行了比较研究。结果表明，他们的乳齿在出生前和出生后相对较短的时间内迅速形成。牙齿萌出开始于现存人类儿童出牙时间表的最早端。牙齿的高级发育与尼安德特人婴儿喂养的预期相符。
