A new analysis of the best-preserved Neanderthal infant skeleton shows that these ancient babies developed bones and brains at a pace matching modern humans aged 12 to 14 months, despite being only about six months old. The findings, based on the Amud 7 infant from Israel, suggest Neanderthals grew rapidly in early childhood as an adaptation to harsh environments. Researchers observed similar patterns in other young Neanderthal remains.
Ella Been at Ono Academic College in Israel and her colleagues examined the nearly complete skeleton of Amud 7, discovered in 1992 in a cave near the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The infant lived between 51,000 and 56,000 years ago and died at around six months old, as determined by tooth eruption and internal tooth structure. However, its bone lengths and brain development aligned more closely with a modern human child of 12 to 14 months, Been said. The sex of Amud 7 remains undetermined, and it is one of the few young Neanderthal skeletons recorded. Neanderthals dominated Eurasia for hundreds of thousands of years until their extinction around 40,000 years ago due to climate change and competition with modern humans. The team found the same developmental mismatch—young dental age but older skeletal age—in two other infants: a two-year-old from Syria called Dederiyeh 1 and a three-year-old from Roc de Marsal in France. “Seeing the same pattern in three different Neanderthal infants shows that this is not accidental,” Been noted. She indicated that Neanderthal growth outpaced Homo sapiens in the first few years of life but converged by around seven years of age. This rapid early growth likely helped them retain heat in cold climates, as smaller bodies lose warmth faster. Chris Stringer at the Natural History Museum in London praised the study for filling gaps in Neanderthal development. He described three growth phases: synchronized newborn development, a surge in body and brain growth during infancy with slower teeth, and resynchronization in older children alongside continued fast brain growth. As adults, Neanderthals matched Homo sapiens in size, though on the shorter side, Been added.