First Systematic Assessment of Dental Growth and Development in an Archaic Hominin (genus, ) from East Asia

Overview

Journal Sci Adv

Specialties Biology
Science

Date 2019 Feb 13

PMID 30746445

Citations 3

Authors

Song Xing

Paul Tafforeau

Mackie OHara

Mario Modesto-Mata

Laura Martin-Frances

Maria Martinon-Torres

Limin Zhang

Lynne A Schepartz

Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro

Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Several human dental traits typical of modern humans appear to be associated with the prolonged period of development that is a key human attribute. Understanding when, and in which early hominins, these dental traits first appeared is thus of strong interest. Using x-ray multiresolution synchrotron phase-contrast microtomography, we quantify dental growth and development in an archaic juvenile from the Xujiayao site in northern China dating to 161,000-224,000 years or 104,000-125,000 years before present. Despite the archaic morphology of Xujiayao hominins, most aspects of dental development of this juvenile fall within modern human ranges (e.g., prolonged crown formation time and delayed first molar eruption). For its estimated age-at-death (6.5 years), its state of dental development is comparable to that of equivalently aged modern children. These findings suggest that several facets of modern human dental growth and development evolved in East Asia before the appearance of fully modern human morphology.

Citing Articles

Synchrotron X-ray Studies of the Structural and Functional Hierarchies in Mineralised Human Dental Enamel: A State-of-the-Art Review.

Besnard C, Marie A, Sasidharan S, Harper R, Shelton R, Landini G Dent J (Basel). 2023; 11(4).

PMID: 37185477 PMC: 10137518. DOI: 10.3390/dj11040098.

Virtual histology of archaeological human deciduous prenatal enamel through synchrotron X-ray computed microtomography images.

Nava A, Mahoney P, Bondioli L, Coppa A, Cristiani E, Fattore L J Synchrotron Radiat. 2022; 29(Pt 1):247-253.

PMID: 34985442 PMC: 8733994. DOI: 10.1107/S160057752101208X.

Demographic uniformitarianism: the theoretical basis of prehistoric demographic research and its cross-disciplinary challenges.

French J, Chamberlain A Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020; 376(1816):20190720.

PMID: 33250031 PMC: 7741105. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0720.

References

Kelley J, Schwartz G . Dental development and life history in living African and Asian apes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010; 107(3):1035-40. PMC: 2824272. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0906206107. View

Bromage T, Dean M . Re-evaluation of the age at death of immature fossil hominids. Nature. 2008; 317(6037):525-7. DOI: 10.1038/317525a0. View

Smith T, Toussaint M, Reid D, Olejniczak A, Hublin J . Rapid dental development in a Middle Paleolithic Belgian Neanderthal. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007; 104(51):20220-5. PMC: 2154412. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707051104. View

Immel A, Le Cabec A, Bonazzi M, Herbig A, Temming H, Schuenemann V . Effect of X-ray irradiation on ancient DNA in sub-fossil bones - Guidelines for safe X-ray imaging. Sci Rep. 2016; 6:32969. PMC: 5018823. DOI: 10.1038/srep32969. View

Rosas A, Rios L, Estalrrich A, Liversidge H, Garcia-Tabernero A, Huguet R . The growth pattern of Neandertals, reconstructed from a juvenile skeleton from El Sidrón (Spain). Science. 2017; 357(6357):1282-1287. DOI: 10.1126/science.aan6463. View

Mahoney P, Miszkiewicz J, Pitfield R, Deter C, Guatelli-Steinberg D . Enamel biorhythms of humans and great apes: the Havers-Halberg Oscillation hypothesis reconsidered. J Anat. 2016; 230(2):272-281. PMC: 5244461. DOI: 10.1111/joa.12551. View

Dean M, Cole T . Human life history evolution explains dissociation between the timing of tooth eruption and peak rates of root growth. PLoS One. 2013; 8(1):e54534. PMC: 3544739. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054534. View

Macchiarelli R, Bondioli L, Debenath A, Mazurier A, Tournepiche J, Birch W . How Neanderthal molar teeth grew. Nature. 2006; 444(7120):748-51. DOI: 10.1038/nature05314. View

Smith T, Tafforeau P, Reid D, Grun R, Eggins S, Boutakiout M . Earliest evidence of modern human life history in North African early Homo sapiens. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007; 104(15):6128-33. PMC: 1828706. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0700747104. View

10.

Macho G . Primate molar crown formation times and life history evolution revisited. Am J Primatol. 2001; 55(4):189-201. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.1054. View

11.

Smith B . Patterns of dental development in Homo, Australopithecus, Pan, and Gorilla. Am J Phys Anthropol. 1994; 94(3):307-25. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330940303. View

12.

Dean M . A radiographic and histological study of modern human lower first permanent molar root growth during the supraosseous eruptive phase. J Hum Evol. 2007; 53(6):635-46. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.04.009. View

13.

Guatelli-Steinberg D, Floyd B, Dean M, Reid D . Enamel extension rate patterns in modern human teeth: two approaches designed to establish an integrated comparative context for fossil primates. J Hum Evol. 2012; 63(3):475-86. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.05.006. View

14.

Dean M, Vesey P . Preliminary observations on increasing root length during the eruptive phase of tooth development in modern humans and great apes. J Hum Evol. 2007; 54(2):258-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.09.021. View

15.

FitzGerald C . Do enamel microstructures have regular time dependency? Conclusions from the literature and a large-scale study. J Hum Evol. 1998; 35(4-5):371-86. DOI: 10.1006/jhev.1998.0232. View

16.

Reid D, Guatelli-Steinberg D . Updating histological data on crown initiation and crown completion ages in southern Africans. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2017; 162(4):817-829. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23173. View

17.

Dean C, Leakey M, Reid D, Schrenk F, Schwartz G, Stringer C . Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins. Nature. 2001; 414(6864):628-31. DOI: 10.1038/414628a. View

18.

Shackelford L, Stinespring Harris A, Konigsberg L . Estimating the distribution of probable age-at-death from dental remains of immature human fossils. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2011; 147(2):227-53. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21639. View

19.

Smith T, Tafforeau P, Le Cabec A, Bonnin A, Houssaye A, Pouech J . Dental ontogeny in pliocene and early pleistocene hominins. PLoS One. 2015; 10(2):e0118118. PMC: 4334485. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118118. View

20.

Reid D, Beynon A, Ramirez Rozzi F . Histological reconstruction of dental development in four individuals from a medieval site in Picardie, France. J Hum Evol. 1998; 35(4-5):463-77. DOI: 10.1006/jhev.1998.0233. View