Why is the face of Neanderthals and humans so different?

You may have seen countless anatomical representations and reconstructions of the Neanderthals, right? As you know, these "cousins" of ours disappeared from the planet about 40, 000 years ago, and although they are the closest extinct peoples to today's humans, one of the most striking differences was their facial features, much more robust than ours. .

According to Laura Geggel of the Live Science portal, a team of scientists at New York University School of Dentistry recently presented a study revealing why Neanderthal faces are so different from ours - and the discrepancy is due to how their cheek bones developed.

According to the researchers, while in humans the development of facial bones during childhood gives rise to less prominent faces, in Neanderthals bone deposits continued into adolescence, resulting in more protruding jaws, foreheads and noses.

Face development

The researchers explained that bones are formed by cells called osteoblasts - and absorbed by structures known as osteoclasts. During the study, they mapped osteoblast deposits and bone resorption (a process in which osteoclasts break down bones) of the outermost layers of Neanderthal faces.

For the mapping, scientists used Neanderthal children's skulls found at two different archaeological sites, one located in southern France and the other in Gibraltar. The researchers also evaluated four specimens of adolescent hominids found in Sima de los Huesos, Spain - which are considered to be likely Neanderthal ancestors.

The team found that while in humans the outermost layers of the cheekbones have osteoblasts, the Neanderthals had an important bone buildup in that same region of the face.

Bulges

The analysis showed that both humans and Neanderthals can see a gradual increase in bone deposits after birth. However, in humans some of these deposits are reabsorbed during childhood, especially from the lower face; in the Neanderthals and Sima de los Huesos hominids, bone accumulation continued during adolescence, resulting in also more protruding jaws.

According to the researchers, the finding helps explain the reduction the face of humans suffered about 200, 000 years ago, giving rise to smaller faces than those of our older ancestors. This is because the Neanderthals and hominids found in Spain have similar bone development patterns on the face, and humans were the ones that differed from the parameter followed by our ancestors.

As scientists have said, it is really us who have a unique face, unlike any other, and these evolutionary discrepancies can help explain the variety of sizes and shapes that can be observed among modern humans. Now the next step will be to find out when and how our faces began to exhibit this new developmental trait.

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