DT News - UK - Research on fossilised teeth redefines human and Neanderthal history

Dental Tribune International

Mon. 20 May 2019

save

LONDON, UK: Looking back in time through archaeology has revealed many insights to explain where Homo sapiens came from. By examining teeth, scientists have discovered that Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago, substantially earlier than indicated by most DNA-based estimates. The study has major implications for the identification of the last common ancestral species of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

Working in the Sima de los Huesos caves, a site in the Atapuerca Mountains in Spain, archaeologists have recovered about 30 hominin fossils over a period of several decades. Previous studies date the site to the Middle Pleistocene epoch, around 430,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest and largest collections of hominin remains discovered to date.

In this new discovery, researchers analysed dental evolutionary rates across different hominin species, focusing on early Neanderthals. It showed that the teeth of hominins from Sima de los Huesos, who are ancestors of the Neanderthals, diverged from the modern human lineage earlier than previously assumed.

Study author Dr Aida Gomez-Robles from University College London said, “Any divergence time between Neanderthals and modern humans younger than 800,000 years ago would have entailed an unexpectedly fast dental evolution in the early Neanderthals from Sima de los Huesos.”

“There are different factors that could potentially explain these results, including strong selection to change the teeth of these hominins or their isolation from other Neanderthals found in mainland Europe. However, the simplest explanation is that the divergence between Neanderthals and modern humans was older than 800,000 years. This would make the evolutionary rates of the early Neanderthals from Sima de los Huesos roughly comparable to those found in other species,” explained Gomez-Robles.

In order to arrive at these conclusions, the researchers used quantitative data to measure the evolution of dental shape across hominin species, assuming different divergent times between Neanderthals and modern humans, also accounting for the uncertainty about the evolutionary relationships between different hominin species.

“The Sima people’s teeth are very different from those that we would expect to find in their last common ancestral species with modern humans, suggesting that they evolved separately over a long period of time to develop such stark differences,” said Gomez-Robles.

The study, titled “Dental evolutionary rates and its implications for the Neanderthal–modern human divergence”, was published in the May 2019 issue of Science Advances.

Tags:

To post a reply please login or register

Research suggests human dairy consumption has longer history than previously thought

YORK, UK: The history of dairy consumption among European populations is a surprisingly contentious subject. Lactase persistence—the ability to digest the...

Research on pufferfish could lead to addressing tooth loss in humans

SHEFFIELD, UK: According to new research by an international team of scientists, human teeth evolved from the same genes that form the characteristic beaked...

Research finds tooth enamel fast track in humans

CANTERBURY, UK: New research conducted at the University of Kent in Canterbury has discovered a link between prenatal enamel growth rates of teeth and ...

Fossil teeth trace human lineage to rat-like creature

PORTSMOUTH, UK: According to new research from the University of Portsmouth in England, fossils from the oldest mammals belonging to the line that led to ...

Research provides new insights into how acid damages teeth

GUILDFORD, UK: Researchers from the universities of Surrey and Birmingham in the UK have recently examined microstructural changes to dentinal tubules ...

Ancient fish scales and vertebrate teeth share an embryonic origin

CAMBRIDGE, UK: Two new studies focusing on the evolutionary origin of teeth and of vertebra have provided further evidence of the human connection to marine...

Musculoskeletal frailty: Number of teeth and dentures matter

LONDON, UK: The occurrence of fractures at an older age may depend on the number of teeth the person has left. A study conducted by King’s College London ...

Couple finds human tooth in sausage

QUEENBOROUGH – A couple from the UK has found a human tooth in a package of premium brand sausage. Representatives of the popular British supermarket ...

Study evaluates effect of fluoride on children’s teeth

BELFAST, UK: Aimed at reducing childhood caries levels in the region, the Northern Ireland Caries Prevention in Practice Trial (NIC-PIP) has been ...

New research reveals the role of preventive oral care in the UK

WEYBRIDGE, UK: Haleon, a British multinational consumer healthcare company, and the College of General Dentistry have recently conducted a survey that ...

Education

Live webinar
Fri. 26 April 2024
5:00 pm UTC (London)