The child who lived: Down syndrome among Neanderthals?-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The child who lived: Down syndrome among Neanderthals?

Published:2024-06-28 Issue:26 Volume:10 Page:
ISSN:2375-2548
Container-title:Science Advances
language:en
Short-container-title:Sci. Adv.

Author:

Conde-Valverde Mercedes¹²^ORCID,Quirós-Sánchez Amara¹^ORCID,Diez-Valero Julia¹^ORCID,Mata-Castro Nieves¹³⁴⁵^ORCID,García-Fernández Alfredo¹³⁴⁵^ORCID,Quam Rolf¹²⁶⁷^ORCID,Carretero José Miguel⁶⁸⁹^ORCID,García-González Rebeca⁸^ORCID,Rodríguez Laura⁸¹⁰^ORCID,Sánchez-Andrés Ángeles¹^ORCID,Arsuaga Juan Luis⁶¹¹^ORCID,Martínez Ignacio¹^ORCID,Villaverde Valentín¹²^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Universidad de Alcalá, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Cátedra de Otoacústica Evolutiva y Paleoantropología (HM Hospitales-Universidad de Alcalá), Alcalá de Henares, Spain.

2. Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY, USA.

3. Hospital Universitario HM Puerta del Sur, Móstoles, Spain.

4. Hospital Universitario HM Montepríncipe, Boadilla del Monte, Spain.

5. Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain.

6. Centro de Investigación UCM-ISCIII sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Madrid, Spain.

7. Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.

8. Laboratorio de Evolución Humana, Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain.

9. Unidad Asociada de I+D+i al CSIC Vidrio y Materiales del Patrimonio Cultural (VIMPAC), Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain.

10. Área de Antropología Física. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Universidad de León, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Campus De Vegazana, León, Spain.

11. Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

12. Universitat de València, Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga (PREMEDOC), Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 València, Spain.

Abstract

Caregiving for disabled individuals among Neanderthals has been known for a long time, and there is a debate about the implications of this behavior. Some authors believe that caregiving took place between individuals able to reciprocate the favor, while others argue that caregiving was produced by a feeling of compassion related to other highly adaptive prosocial behaviors. The study of children with severe pathologies is particularly interesting, as children have a very limited possibility to reciprocate the assistance. We present the case of a Neanderthal child who suffered from a congenital pathology of the inner ear, probably debilitating, and associated with Down syndrome. This child would have required care for at least 6 years, likely necessitating other group members to assist the mother in childcare

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Link

https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.adn9310

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