Mahoney, PatrickMcFarlane, GinaSmith, B HollyMiszkiewicz, JustynaCerrito, PaolaLiversidge, HelenMancini, LuciaDreossi, DiegoVeneziano, AlessioBernardini, FedericoCristiani, EmanuelaBehie, Alison2023-05-230962-8452http://hdl.handle.net/1885/292107Modern humans have a slow and extended period of childhood growth but to what extent this ontogenetic pathway was present in Neanderthals is debated. Dental development, linked to the duration of somatic growth across modern primates, is the main source for information about growth and development in a variety of fossil primates, including humans. Studies of Neanderthal permanent teeth report a pace of development either similar to recent humans or relatively accelerated. Neanderthal milk teeth, which form and emerge before permanent teeth, provide an opportunity to determine which pattern was present at birth. Here we present a comparative study of the prenatal and early postnatal growth of five milk teeth from three Neanderthals (120,000-130,000 years ago) using virtual histology. Results reveal regions of their milk teeth formed quickly before birth, and over a relatively short period of time after birth. Tooth emergence commenced towards the earliest end of the eruption schedules displayed by extant human children. Advanced dental development is consistent with expectations for Neanderthal infant feeding.Research support was provided by The Royal Society, and The Leverhulme Trust (to P.M., grant nos. RG110435 and RPG2018-226), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship (to A.N., grant no. H2020-MSCA-IF-2018-842812-WEAN IT), the European Research Council (to E.C., grant no. 639286—HIDDEN FOODS) and Australian National University (to J.M. and A.B.)application/pdfen-AU© 2021 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Societyhuman evolutionevolutionary biologydental developmentfossil homininsvirtual histology202110.1098/rspb.2021.20792022-03-20