Is this why we outlived Neanderthals? Human children had prolonged support from their parents - while Neanderthal kids were left to fend for themselves, study claims

A study of teeth indicates humans provided prolonged childcare to offspringThis could also be one of the reasons why Neanderthals eventually went extinct 

We once lived among Neanderthals but around 40,000 years ago, they disappeared.

Reasons for their demise vary, but experts have suggested interbreeding, climate change and violent clashes with humans may be to blame.

Now a new study of teeth indicates that humans provided prolonged childcare to their offspring, while young Neanderthals may have gained earlier independence.

And this could also be one of the reasons why Neanderthals eventually went extinct, according to experts.

Experts say Neanderthal children, who lived between 400,000 and 40,000 years ago, and modern human children living during the Upper Palaeolithic era – between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago – may have faced similar levels of childhood stress but at different developmental stages.

We once lived among Neanderthals but around 40,000 years ago, they disappeared. Reasons for their demise vary, but experts have suggested interbreeding, climate change and violent clashes with humans may be to blame (stock image)

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The team, from the University of Tubingen in Germany, suggest that these findings could reflect differences in childcare and other behavioural strategies between the two species.

They analysed the dental enamel of 423 Neanderthal teeth and 444 Upper Palaeolithic human teeth.

Horizontal grooves of thinner enamel in the teeth indicated early-life stress, which previous research has demonstrated can be linked to childhood stressors such as illness, infections, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies and trauma.

The authors found that the overall likelihood of enamel defects was similar in both Neanderthal and Upper Palaeolithic modern human teeth but that the developmental stages that these defects were likely to occur in varied between both species.

Among Upper Palaeolithic humans, enamel defects were more likely to occur around the ages weaning is estimated to have occurred — between one and three years of age.

A new study of teeth indicates that humans provided prolonged childcare to their offspring, while young Neanderthals may have gained earlier independence

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Among Neanderthals, however, enamel defects were more likely to peak after the weaning period – suggesting that during this time they were more likely to experience malnutrition.

The authors believe that the stress experienced by Palaeolithic human children during weaning could have been caused by increasing energy demands.

They propose that Upper Palaeolithic humans may have helped reduce developmental stress in children after weaning through strategies such as encouraging prolonged dependence on parents, exploiting resources more efficiently, and providing children with access to food.

These strategies may not have been used by Neanderthals, they said, which could have contributed to long-term survival advantages for modern humans compared to Neanderthals.

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Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, they said humans may have been better at 'mitigating stress in newly-weaned children'.

Meanwhile, for Neanderthals, the period shortly after the completion of weaning coincides with the 'most stressful childhood phase'.

Study author Laura Limmer said: 'We are suggesting that Upper Palaeolithic modern humans and Neanderthals had different post-weaning childcare strategies, with that of the Upper Palaeolithic modern humans resulting in a better reduction of stress in later childhood.

'These strategies might not only be support from their parents but might have been linked to other social factors.

'We would perhaps say that Neanderthal children might have gained earlier independence or started to have been treated more like adults at a younger age compared to modern human children.'