Ancient Fossil Teeth Reveal Early Homo's Unique Growth Patterns

New research on 1.77-million-year-old teeth suggests a mix of ape-like maturity and human-like delayed development in early Homo species.

The study, published in Nature, analyzed fossil teeth from Dmanisi, Georgia, offering insights into early human development.
X-ray imaging revealed that early Homo individuals had a slow start in dental development, akin to humans, but later experienced rapid growth similar to great apes.
The findings challenge the idea that extended childhoods evolved solely alongside brain expansion in Homo sapiens.
Researchers suggest that shared childcare, including involvement from grandmothers, might have contributed to longer childhoods in early Homo species.
The Dmanisi fossils represent one of the earliest known Homo species outside Africa, providing a glimpse into the evolutionary experiments with extended growth phases.