Ice Age Teens Hit Puberty Around the Same Time as Modern Humans

Researchers match tooth and bone features to identify Paleolithic adolescent maturation. Here's what they have to say about these ice age teens.

By Paul Smaglik
Sep 17, 2024 6:00 AMSep 17, 2024 6:00 PM
Reconstruction of a 16-year-old ice age teenager with a form of dwarfism who lived 11,000 years ago
Reconstruction of Romito 2, a 16-year-old teenager with a form of dwarfism who lived 11,000 years ago in southern Italy. (Credit: Olivier Graveleau)

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How do you know when an Ice Age teen hits puberty? You can see it in their bones.

A research group for the first time applied a technique initially developed for contemporary clinical observations to Paleolithic fossils. They reported in the Journal of Human Evolution that Ice Age teens experienced the same physiological changes as contemporary young adolescents at roughly the same time.

Ice Age Bones Reveal Clues About Adolescence

The scientists studied the bones of 13 ancient humans between 10 and 20 years old from the Pleistocene Era, about 25,000 years ago. One, named Romito 2, a male adolescent with a form of dwarfism, probably had a deeper voice, fine facial hair, and could father children.

The technique, developed by Mary Lewis from University of Reading, analyzed mineralization of the canine teeth, and examined maturation of the bones of the hand, elbow, wrist, neck, and pelvis. It then identified the stage of puberty that an individual reached when they died.

“We then use this knowledge to determine what that individual would have looked like on the outside, an appearance that changes with each stage of sexual maturation,” says April Nowell, a paleontologist at the University of Victoria in Canada and an author on the paper.

The technique can be applied to developments like voice change, breast development, and menstruation onset. This method has been applied to human skeletons in Egypt, Roman Britain, Medieval London, Bronze Age Spain, among other time periods. This is the first time the technique has been applied to Paleolithic fossils.


Read More: What Is the Difference Between Early Modern Humans and Ancient Humans?


Stages of Development in Ancient Human Skeletons

There are six broad developmental stages — each with their own physiological markers. For example, during the third stage, the roots of the canine teeth are fully mineralized and one part of the humerus fuses.

If we see these (and other indicators) in a female skeleton we know she would have been developing breasts, while in a male skeleton we know he would be going through that awkward phase of having his voice break,” says Nowell.

Although there is research showing that teens enter puberty earlier, this study shows that, although there may be some differences, it may not be so drastic.

“What we see is that that they are actually following a blueprint for puberty that was established thousands of years ago,” says Nowell. “Our Ice Age teens enter puberty only slightly later. They do take slightly longer to complete puberty than adolescents today, but we have to remember that we are studying the non-survivors.”


Read More: Stress May Cause Early Puberty


Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:


Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.

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