Neanderthals Matured Faster Than Modern Man -Study

Science - Reuters ^ | 2004-04-28 | Patricia Reaney

[Junior]

LONDON (Reuters) - Neanderthals may conjure up images of an uncivilized, brutish species but they were surprisingly early developers, researchers said Wednesday.

Although Neanderthals disappeared from Europe about 30,000 years ago, scientists at the French research institute CRNS in Paris have uncovered new details about them by studying teeth fossils.

The findings, reported in the science journal Nature, suggest Neanderthals reached adulthood by the age of 15 -- about three years before early modern humans -- probably ate a high calorie diet and were a distinct species from modern humans.

"Neanderthals, despite having a large brain, were characterized by a short period of development," said Fernando Ramirez Rozzi.

Creatures with large brains tend to have a lengthier growth period and take longer to mature, but Ramirez Rozzi and his colleague Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro found that the opposite applied with Neanderthals.

"Until now the idea was: the longer the growth, the bigger the brain but in Neanderthals this relationship is completely broken," Ramirez Rozzi said in a telephone interview.

"This difference in growth between Neanderthals and modern humans is, I think, very strong proof of two different species," he added.

Why they developed so quickly is a puzzle but Ramirez Rossi suspects Neanderthals had a high mortality rate because of the hostile conditions in which they lived and they adapted to this by maturing quickly.

DENTAL GROWTH AND MATURITY

Dental growth records contain biological information and give an overall indication of the maturity of a species. Ramirez Rozzi and Bermudez de Castro studied the series of ridges, called perikymata, on teeth fossils.

They compared teeth fossils from Neanderthals dating from 130,000 to 28,000 years ago, earlier samples dating between 800,000 and 400,000 years and teeth fossils of homo sapiens that were 20,000-8,000 years old.

"Neanderthals were characterized by having the shortest period of dental growth," said Ramirez Rozzi.

Whether Neanderthals evolved gradually into modern humans or were displaced or killed off by them is a question still being debated by scientists. Some researchers believe there may have been interbreeding to some degree.

Neanderthals lived in caves or huts, used fires and tools and ate a variety of animals. They may have been cannibals and could have communicated with speech.

Jan Kelley, of the University of Illinois in Chicago, said in a commentary in the journal that more studies on teeth fossils are needed to support the conclusions reached by Ramirez Rozzi and Bermudez de Castro.

"Nonetheless, these authors have opened up what should prove to be a fruitful line of research into both the relationships and the palaeobiology of Neanderthals," Kelley said.

[Junior]

Fresh meat ping.

[bcoffey]

Neanderthals Matured Faster Than Modern Man -Study

Explains those who post at DU. :)

[RightWhale]

Notice the sudden evolution of a san serif font. This may explain why the neanderthals could not adapt: they could no longer read the newspapers.

[ASA Vet]

Neanderthals reached adulthood by the age of 15 -- about three years before early modern humans

Anyone who believes that never saw any early Traci Lords movies.

[PatrickHenry]

Slow day PING. [This list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and some other science topics like cosmology. Long-time list members get all pings, but can request evo-only status. New additions will be evo-only, but can request all pings. FReepmail me to be added or dropped. Specify all pings or you'll get evo-pings only.]

[LiteKeeper]

Good evidence that Neanderthals were Homo Sapiens - with either rickets, cancer, or a bone disease.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

"This difference in growth between Neanderthals and modern humans is, I think, very strong proof of two different species,"...

[muawiyah]

Entirely too much bovine growth hormone in their mastadon roasts.

I suspect they had twins at a far higher frequency than modern humans which would, of course, require their females to have 4 breasts.

This enabled them to live in Northern latitudes ~ we do that with higher technology, but it can be done with a higher birth rate as well.

Their women were 350 to 500 pounds.

No doubt lots of cross-breeding.

Lots of it.

Four huge breasts.

500 pounds.

You betcha!

[Junior]

That's a non-starter. Several hundred individuals have been recovered. Neanderthals all have certain physiological aspects not shared by H. Sapiens, including bone cross-section vs. length, the angle at which the spine enters the skull, and the size and position of the muscle attachments on the bones. Individuals with rickets, cancer or bone disease might evince one or more of these anomolies, but to have several hundred that evince similar morphological features indicates a separate population, if not species (or at least sub species). One of the first individuals recovered did have arthritis, and a lot of the creationist mythology surrounding the species stems from this.

[Theo]

Good evidence that Neanderthals were Homo Sapiens - with either rickets, cancer, or a bone disease.

Yup.

[PatrickHenry]

The Truth^tm is that the Neanderthals were on Noah's Ark, like everything else, but due to the erratic effects of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which was still kicking in after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, their teeth matured too rapidly, thus causing horrible dental problems. So they died. Their bones were scrambled in the Flood. Saturn was floating just above the north pole at that time, as any fool knows.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Maybe there's a Small Village of them living on Mount Ararat. (Above the timberline, of course.)

[LiteKeeper]

Do genetic differences disprove that Neandertals and modern humans interbred?

[Theo]

"Neanderthals were human. They buried their dead, used tools, had a complex social structure, employed language, and played musical instruments. Neanderthal anatomy differences are extremely minor and can be for the most part explained as a result of a genetically isolated people that lived a rigorous life in a harsh, cold climate."

A bit more from http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-323.htm :

There are a large number of cultural habits that distance Homo sapiens from animals. No other organisms, either living or fossil, made tools to make other complex tools, buried their dead, had controlled use of fire, practiced religious ceremonies, used complex syntax in their spoken grammar, and played musical instruments, yet we know from their fossils that Neanderthal engaged in all.

Deliberate burial of Neanderthal remains is well known from at least 36 sites with a geographical distribution over most of Eurasia (Gowlett, 1994), with at least 20 complete skeletons known (Lewin, 1998). Some graves have stone tools, animal bones, and flowers buried in the ground, along with the Neanderthal remains. At the Uzbekistan Neanderthal site of Teshik-Tash, is a boy's grave surrounded by a ring of mountain goat bones, horns, and levallois tools indicating ritualism of some sort. Burial is known to have occurred in an unnatural posture, which demonstrates that a corpse was not simply dropped into a hole in the earth without preparation (Trinkaus and Shipman, 1992). Burial implies an awareness of the after life and demonstrates the existence of formal ritual. Indication of strong social ties can be inferred from cases where Neanderthal individuals with severe crippling injuries were cared for (i.e., the Shanidar remains).

In 1996, pristine evidence of Neanderthal humanness came to light, when a cave in Slovenia produced a small flute made from the thigh bone of a cave bear. Four precisely aligned holes are punctured on one side of the four-inch-long bone (Folger and Menon, 1997). Thus cultural evidence strongly supports Neanderthal humanness.

[LiteKeeper]

Recovery of Neandertal mtDNA: An Evaluation

[LiteKeeper]

What About the Neandertal DNA?

[LiteKeeper]

Thumbs up for Neandertals

[Junior]

Yes, they were human, but they were not Homo Sapiens. Indeed, they were evidently a separate species within the same genus. I know your literal interpretation of the Bible will not allow for such a concept, but until about 50,000 years ago, there were three separate human species on Earth. Up to about 28,000 years ago, there were still two.

Neanderthals were intelligent and cultured beings capable of abstract thought. They were not, however, us.

[Centurion2000]

With all the hormones in the chicken and beef here in the USA, our woman population is maturing like Neanderthals.

Men can see it. Ever seen a 15 year old that could do a solid physical impersonation of an 18 year old ?