Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33436796›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2021

3D enamel profilometry reveals faster growth but similar stress severity in Neanderthal versus Homo sapiens teeth.

Kate McGrath, Laura Sophia Limmer, Annabelle-Louise Lockey, Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg, Donald J Reid, Carsten Witzel, Emmy Bocaege, Shannon C McFarlin, Sireen El Zaatari

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
21.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. New Middle Pleistocene Hominin Dental Remains From Velika Balanica, Serbia.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.

Kate McGrathCNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, Univ. Bordeaux, Bâtiment B8, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615, Pessac, France. kathjmcgrath@gmail.com.
Laura Sophia LimmerPaleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany.
Annabelle-Louise LockeyPaleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany.
Debbie Guatelli-SteinbergDepartment of Anthropology, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 4034 Smith Laboratory, 174 W 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
Donald J ReidDepartment of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd St. NW, Suite 6000, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
Carsten WitzelDepartment of Biology, Universität Hildesheim, Universitätsplatz 1, 31141, Hildesheim, Germany.
Emmy BocaegeSkeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ, UK.
Shannon C McFarlinDepartment of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd St. NW, Suite 6000, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
Sireen El ZaatariPaleoanthropology, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Universität Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany.
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment · DEUniversity of Kent · GBGeorge Washington University · USSmithsonian Institution · USUniversité de Bordeaux · FRUniversity of Hildesheim · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Early life stress disrupts growth and creates horizontal grooves on the tooth surface in humans and other mammals, yet there is no consensus for their quantitative analysis. Linear defects are considered to be nonspecific stress indicators, but evidence suggests that intermittent, severe stressors create deeper defects than chronic, low-level stressors. However, species-specific growth patterns also influence defect morphology, with faster-growing teeth having shallower defects at the population level. Here we describe a method to measure the depth of linear enamel defects and normal growth increments (i.e., perikymata) from high-resolution 3D topographies using confocal profilometry and apply it to a diverse sample of Homo neanderthalensis and H. sapiens anterior teeth. Debate surrounds whether Neanderthals exhibited modern human-like growth patterns in their teeth and other systems, with some researchers suggesting that they experienced more severe childhood stress. Our results suggest that Neanderthals have shallower features than H. sapiens from the Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, and medieval eras, mirroring the faster growth rates in Neanderthal anterior teeth. However, when defect depth is scaled by perikymata depth to assess their severity, Neolithic humans have less severe defects, while Neanderthals and the other H. sapiens groups show evidence of more severe early life growth disruptions.

Indexed as

Adverse Childhood ExperiencesAnimalsChildDental EnamelHominidaeHumansImaging, Three-DimensionalMoire TopographyNeanderthalsSpecies SpecificityTooth

Identifiers

PMID33436796
PMCPMC7804262
OpenAlexW3119668439

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.