The rediscovery of a virtually complete Neanderthal neonate skeleton, thought to have been lost to science, is a major find for palaeoanthropology and should lead to an improved understanding of Neanderthal growth and development (Maurelle 2002). The remains of the Skeleton - Le Moustier 2 - were excavated from Level J of the Le Moustier Lower Shelter by Denis Peyrony in 1914. Although it was immediately recognised as being of a neonate, no further study seems to have been undertaken, and it was assumed that the remains were sent by Peyrony to Breuil in Paris for study and subsequently lost there. The remains were rediscovered among a collection of stone tools from the Lower Shelter at Le Moustier, curated at the Musée National de Préhistoire at Les Eyzies, during a survey of the collections.

Although the bones are of a neonate, and therefore highly fragile, the specimen is one of the most complete Neanderthal individuals ever found. It comprises many bones of the cranium, teeth, vertebrae, longbones, ribs and some bones of the hands and feet. Although fragmentary remains of Neanderthal infants are relatively common, virtually complete skeletons are extremely rare. This is especially the case for neonates, for which some ten individuals of highly variable quality are known. Le Moustier 2 has been aged at no more than four months at death on the basis of its long bone dimensions and concomitant stature.

Two of the bones now known to come from Le Moustier 2 - the right humerus and femur - were never lost, but were erroneously thought to belong to La Ferrassie LF4, a neonate that was probably buried in a pit. Their colour, however, and degree of fossilisation differed from the other bones of LF4 and minerals were found in the sediment adhering to them that were not found at La Ferrassie. By contrast, all features - colour, fossilisation, anatomical landmarks and sediment match those of the left humerus and femur of Le Moustier 2, uniting them beyond any reasonable doubt. There are behavioural ramifications of removing these skeletal parts from the LF4 individual. As LF4 possesses both humeri and femora, the inclusion of the additional humerus and femur seemed to indicate the presence of a second neonate in the burial pit. This would have been the only example of a Neanderthal double burial. The re-allocation of these parts to Le Moustier 2 removes this possibility, although the relative completeness of Le Moustier 2 make it very likely that this neonate was indeed buried, albeit alone, in another space and time.

Our picture of the early development of Neanderthals really begins around the first year of life and thereafter through weaning to the eruption of the permanent dentition. Little is know about foetal growth and the first year. Recent analyses of infant Neanderthal remains have suggested that their characteristic traits appeared very early during development, which seems in general to have been relatively accelerated compared to modern humans. Studies of the Neanderthal infants recovered from La Ferrassie and L'Hortus in France, and elsewhere, suggest that features of the cranial vault are possibly present from birth, but that features of the face appear later. The entry of a virtually complete neonate may drastically improve our understanding of the state of development of an individual that lived no longer than four months. That this brief life occurred towards the end of Neanderthal existence - Layer J has been dated by thermoluminescence to 40,300 ± 2600 BP - makes it an excellent comparandum to modern human growth and development.

Reported by:

Paul B Pettitt

paul.pettitt@keble.oxford.ac.uk

Reference:

Maurelle, B. (2002) A lost Neanderthal neonate found. Nature 419, 33-4.

© Western Academic & Specialist Press Ltd 2002