Study demonstrates for the first time that Neanderthals cared for and protected children with Down syndrome
Original temporal bone and 3D reconstruction of the CN-46700 fossil from Cova Negra in anterior view.
Researchers from the University of Valencia, the University of Alcalá and the Chair of Evolutionary Otoacoustics and Paleoanthropology at HM Hospitals have discovered the first case of Down syndrome among Neanderthals. The individual, nicknamed ’Tina’, survived for more than six years thanks to the care and solidarity of her group. The study has analysed a cranial fragment of the right ear found in Cova Negra (Xàtiva, Valencia), revealing that malformations in the inner ear caused the individual severe hearing loss and disabling vertigo. The work has been published in the journal Science Advances.
The study generates a new paradigm regarding the social relationships and the defining characteristics of Neanderthal communities such as a sense of belonging and altruism. One of the most extraordinary characteristics of humans is their care for vulnerable individuals. The altruism of our species is unusual in the animal kingdom and poses a real challenge to evolutionary biology. It has been known for decades that Neanderthals also cared for their vulnerable companions.
However, previously known cases involved adult individuals, which is why specialists thought that it was not genuine altruism but merely an exchange of help between equals. "What was not known until now was a case of an individual who had received help even if he or she could not return the favour, which would prove the existence of true altruism among Neanderthals. That is precisely what the discovery of Tina means", confirms Mercedes Conde, a researcher at the Chair of Evolutionary Otoacoustics and Paleoanthropology at HM Hospitals and the University of Alcalá.
According to the research team, this solves one of the most controversial enigmas in anthropology, as it proves both the existence of individuals with Down syndrome in Neanderthal communities and that they were cared for and protected altruistically.
The fossil studied, a fragment of the temporal bone, the skull bone that houses the ear, was found in 1989 in the Cova Negra in Xàtiva, a site where a large number of Neanderthal bone remains have been recovered, many of them from children. "These excavations have been key to understanding the lifestyle of Neanderthals in the Iberian Mediterranean area and have allowed us to define the occupations of the settlement: short-term with a small number of individuals, alternating with the presence of carnivores", points out Valentín Villaverde, emeritus professor of Archaeology at the University of Valencia, who led the excavations. The fossil remains are deposited in the Valencian Museum ofPrehistory.
The individual to whom this cranial fragment belonged, Tina, survived for at least six years, which undoubtedly required the care and solidarity of her group. This is the first known case of this syndrome in a hominin species other than the current one.
The fossil has been studied by a team led by Mercedes Conde, a professor at the University of Alcalá, with the participation of Alfredo García, head of the Otolaryngology Service at HM Puerta del Sur and HM Rivas university hospitals, and Nieves Mata, an otolaryngologist at both centres. Mata highlights: "It was fascinating to detect, in the CT scan of the temporal bone, which houses the hearing and balance organs, congenital malformations such as lateral semicircular canal dysplasia and signs of complications from the otitis that this child may have had during her childhood, such as the presence of a labyrinthine fistula. All these alterations could have led to severe hearing loss and disabling vertigo in a child with an inner ear malformation highly suggestive of Down syndrome".
Conde-Valverde, M., Quirós-Sánchez, A., Diez-Valero, J., Mata-Castro, N., García-Fernández, A., Quam, R., Carretero, J.M., García-González, R., Rodríguez, L., Sánchez-Andrés, A., Arsuaga, J.L., Martínez, I. & Villaverde, V. (2024) The child who lived. Down Syndrome among Neanderthals? Science Advances (in press) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn9310
Captions:
- Mercedes Conde, lecturer of Physical Anthropology from the University of Alcalá (UAH), Valentín Villaverde, professor of Archeology from the University of Valencia and Ignacio Martínez, professor of the Department of Life Sciences (UAH).
- 3D models of the inner ear from Cova Negra, showing the pathological dilation of the anterior semicircular canal, compared with Kebara 1, a Neanderthal without the pathology.
