A team of researchers including Associate Professor Alison Behie and Dr Justyna Miszkiewicz from ANU Biological Anthropology have discovered that Neanderthal infants developed teeth at a younger age than modern human children.

The team used advanced 3D X-ray technology to analyse Neanderthal tooth samples and compared them to milk teeth from modern children. The modern teeth could be cut in half to examine their structure and minute growth patterns of enamel. Many of these modern children’s teeth were donated by Australian mothers, including a number from Canberra.

The research concluded that the year after birth was a period of advanced development for Neanderthal infants.

Read an interview in The Age from November 24, 2021 How Australian children’s teeth helped solve an ancient mystery

This research is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences