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Paleantology

A jaw reveals the humanity’s infancy

Today, the remains of her jaw are being used to shed light on the childhood of Homo antecessor.

Staff | June 15, 2010

The jaw bone of Jimena, the name given to the remains of a young girl of Homo antecessor, was found at the Gran Dolina site along with other human bones that show tool marks. This suggests to researchers that local people practiced cannibalism.

Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this is a very remarkable discovery that will help our understanding of the stages of human development from childhood to adulthood. The mandible preserves baby teeth as well as teeth that had not yet emerged. According to the authors of the study, including Eudald Carbonell of the Rovira i Virgili University, the growth rate of humans 800,000 years ago was almost identical to the current one, making both much slower than that of chimpanzees, our closest primate relative.

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