A recent study has unveiled remarkable insights into the social behaviors of Neanderthals, highlighting their capacity for care and altruism. A fossilized ear bone, unearthed from the Cova Negra archaeological site in Valencia, Spain, reveals that a Neanderthal child with Down syndrome lived to the age of 6, at least 146,000 years ago. This finding challenges the stereotypical view of Neanderthals as brutish cavemen and suggests that members of their community provided extensive care for their vulnerable members.
Abnormalities in the inner ear
The ear bone was originally excavated in 1989 at Cova Negra in Xàtiva, a town in the province of Valencia, Spain. Other Neanderthal remains in the cave date back to between 273,000 and 146,000 years ago. However, the bone – a fragment of a temporal bone – was mixed with animal remains and wasn’t identified until recently.
The team used micro-CT (computed tomography) to scan the bone, which allowed them to create a 3D digital model of it.
The team found that Tina’s ear bone had an irregular shape that is consistent with Down syndrome. It also had other abnormalities such as a smaller cochlea and an abnormality in the lateral semicircular canal (LSC), the shortest of the three ear canals, which could have caused severe hearing loss and vertigo.
This is the first known case of Down syndrome in Neanderthals, our closest human relatives who lived in Eurasia from about 400,000 to 40,000 years ago.
The fact that the child, nicknamed Tina, lived into early childhood suggests that her Neanderthal group cared for her, providing evidence that Neanderthals engaged in altruistic behavior.
A surprising lifespan
Although people with Down syndrome can live long lives today, the researchers were surprised that this Neanderthal child lived past the age of 6.
Life in the Stone Age was harsh. The study points out that Neanderthals were constantly on the move, traveling from place to place. The extensive care required for the child to survive for so long likely meant the mother relied on the cooperation and support of other members of the group.
Even in the recent past, it was common for children with Down syndrome to die young. According to the study, in 1929 the life expectancy for children with Down syndrome, a condition caused by an extra partial or full chromosome, was only 9 years old. By the 1940s, the expected lifespan had increased to 12 years.
Today, in the United States, about 1 in 772 babies are born with Down syndrome, and life expectancy now surpasses 60 years, according to the National Down Syndrome Society.
The oldest known case of Down syndrome in Homo sapiens, our own species, dates back at least 5,300 years. Using ancient DNA, researchers involved in a study published in February identified six cases in prehistoric populations. None of these children lived longer than 16 months.
Down syndrome has also been documented in chimpanzees. A study from January 2016 highlighted the case of a chimp with Down syndrome that survived to 23 months thanks to the care it received from its mother, with help from her eldest daughter.
However, the study noted that when the daughter stopped helping to care for her own offspring, the mother was unable to provide the necessary care and the young chimp died.
The discovery of the Neanderthal child with Down syndrome at the Cova Negra site provides compelling evidence of the compassionate and altruistic nature of Neanderthals. This finding not only challenges the traditional view of Neanderthals but also enriches our understanding of their social behaviors and emotional capacities. As Conde-Valverde aptly put it, with more research and fossils, we may come to realize just how similar Neanderthals were to us, truly part of the human family.
