A study published on June 26 in the scientific journal Science Advances showed that a Neanderthal child may have lived until the age of six with Down syndrome. The discovery was made by a team of Spanish researchers after examining a human fossil discovered at the archaeological site of Cova Negra, in the Spanish province of Valencia.
According to researchers, the anatomy of the inner ear contained features that indicated Down syndrome, characterizing the oldest known evidence of the disease. The fossil was excavated in 1989, but only now have scientists been able to recognize it. It is a fragment of one of the right temporal bone, which helps form the side and base of the skull, protecting the brain and surrounding the ear canal.
The researchers cannot define, for sure, whether the fossil was from a girl or a boy, but they nicknamed the Neanderthal child “Tina”. Based on its developmental state, the bone belonged to a child who was at least six years old and at most 10. The precise age of the fossil has not been determined, but researchers noted that the presence of Neanderthals at the site Cova Negra was dated between 273 thousand and 146 thousand years ago.
Down syndrome is a genetic disease caused by an extra chromosome 21, resulting in intellectual disability and distinct physical characteristics, such as short stature, large tongue, small ears and short, wide hands, with a single crease in the palm, according to the MSD Manual.
According to the researchers, the characteristics of the fossil found coincided with the typical characteristics of people with Down syndrome. For example, one of the three semicircular canals, which are involved in hearing and balance, was unusually wide. Another was connected to a neighboring chamber called the vestibular aqueduct, which are normally separate structures. Furthermore, the cochlea, part of the inner ear essential for hearing, was small.
“The pathology that this individual suffered resulted in highly disabling symptoms, including, at a minimum, complete deafness, severe attacks of vertigo and an inability to maintain balance,” says Mercedes Conde-Valverde, paleoanthropologist at the University of Alcalá in Spain, lead author of the study, to the British newspaper The Guardian.
According to the researcher, it is unlikely that, with these symptoms, the mother would have taken care of the child alone and, at the same time, met her own needs. Given this, Conde-Valverde believes that Tina survived thanks to the cooperation of the group she lived with, as the child’s age at death represents an unusual longevity for a Neanderthal with such a health condition.
Previous evidence has shown that Neanderthals cared for their sick and injured. The study authors believe the discovery reinforces the theory that Neanderthals practiced collaborative caregiving and parenting, reflecting a complex social adaptation similar to that of modern humans.
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