When was a Neanderthal fully grown? Prehistoric dentistry Neanderthal plaque Scientists are learning that fossilized dental plaque reveals much about our ancestors—from how eating meat changed our oral health to how Neanderthals used medicinal plants. In a 2017 article in Nature, researchers compared the plaque from a Neanderthal skeleton found in central Belgium and one from northern Spain. Genetic analysis of the bacteria and other material in the plaque showed that the microbiomes of the two individuals differed drastically. The Belgian Neanderthal ate a meat-heavy diet; the DNA of sheep, woolly mammoth and other animals was found in its dental plaque. The Neanderthal living in Spain appeared to eat a much more vegetarian, hunterIn 2004, two scientists examined the perikymata—which are little striations in enamel that result from the development of the tooth as enamel builds up on the crown—of early modern humans, Neanderthals and an earlier common ancestor to both from ~500,000 years ago. Before a tooth erupts from the gums, it grows coats of enamel starting at the tip. Enamel gets laid down over the crown in growth spurts that last about 9 days, so counting the perikymata gives an estimate of how long it took for a tooth to form. The study included more than 100 Neandertal teeth from 54 individuals. Fernando V. Ramirez Rozzi and Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro found that Neanderthal teeth had fewer striations than either of the other groups, indicating the shortest period of dental growth. The two scientists hypothesized that because dental growth often correlates with development in general, Neanderthals reached adulthood by age 15, earlier than modern humans. Teeth from a Neanderthal found at a site in Krapina, Croatia, in the early 20th century were re-examined by scientists and found to have grooves, scratches and chips. According to a journal article in the Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology, a Neanderthal who lived 130,000 years ago appears to have tried to use a toothpick to deal with an impacted tooth. Earlier scholarship on the Krapina Neanderthals found that they created jewellery out of eagle talons. gatherer style diet of pine nuts and mushrooms. One of the researchers, Dr. Laura Weyrich, says the microbiome of the Spanish Neanderthal is more like those of older, pre-human ancestors, who had hunter-gatherer, mostly vegetarian diets, which she believes may be the “core” microbiome for hominids, from which modern human microbiomes have since evolved. 38 | 2025 | Issue 1
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