"This difference in growth between Neanderthals and modern humans is, I think, very strong proof of two different species," he added.
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Posted on 04/28/2004 12:57:48 PM PDT by 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.
My point is that we as a society have back slid and today some 35 year olds are much less mature than my generation was at 17. Devolution anyone?
This is AP's take on the same story:
If you think your kids grow up fast, consider this: A new study suggests that Neanderthal children blazed through adolescence and on average reached adulthood at age 15.
The finding bolsters the view that Neanderthals were a unique species separate from modern humans, since the time for humans to mature to adulthood grew longer over the course of their evolution, said paleontologist Fernando V. Ramirez Rozzi, who led the study.
Rozzi, with the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, based his study on analysis of Neanderthal teeth. It will be published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
If Neanderthals and prehistoric Europeans could be seen side by side some 35,000 years ago, "the Neanderthals would be bigger," Rozzi said. "Probably human children of about 5 years old would play with Neanderthals that were 3 years old."
"It's a very exciting paper," said anthropologist Katerina Harvati of New York University. "Our current understanding of Neanderthals is that they're brutish and stupid, even though it turns out they have larger brains on average than ourselves.
"Now, this work actually supports the idea that ... they were dealing with the world in fundamentally different ways."
For more than 100,000 years, Neanderthals roamed across a vast region from Spain to southern Russia and western Asia, overlapping with anatomically modern man for several thousand years. Scientists disagree about how much interbreeding occurred between the groups and whether Neanderthals passed on any of their traits before they vanished some 30,000 years ago.
Harvati said their quick maturation rate may have been an adaptation to a harsh environment that decreased their life span and made it important for youngsters to reach sexual maturity quickly.
For his study, Rozzi spent about 18 months examining growth patterns on the crowns of incisors and canines from 55 individual Neanderthals, comparing them with corresponding patterns from early modern humans and ancestors to both groups. Like rings on a tree, the time it takes for a tooth to grow can be measured by counting visible lines that form about every nine days on the enamel.
On average, Rozzi found Neanderthals developed teeth 15 percent faster than modern humans. Therefore, a Neanderthal's physical development, which mirrors tooth growth, must have been faster as well, he said.
Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St. Louis said he's skeptical of the research. Human growth varies widely within a population, he said. In fact, Rozzi's study includes some Neanderthal teeth that took as long to develop as modern human teeth.
University of Illinois at Chicago anatomy professor Jay Kelley said he's also concerned about making conclusions based on what are essentially assumptions about Neanderthal tooth growth.
"That's a little dicey," said Kelley, who wrote an accompanying article in Nature calling for more research on the subject.
How do we know that the Neanderthal didn't steal this flute from a homosapien she ate?
I guess even before the invention of money, you still had to give the girl something...
But, your honor, the chicken hormones made her look 18! I swear!
"Evolutionist mythology" is supported by a mountain of evidence while creationist mythology is purely based on an old book.
"This difference in growth between Neanderthals and modern humans is, I think, very strong proof of two different species," he added.
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The Bible is the earliest recording of events by humans? Most certainly not. IIRC, writing developed about 6,000 years ago. The Bible is not that old.
I know one that survived...hubby's getting his dentures next week. Thank the Lord for modern dentistry techniques!
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