What Neanderthal Babies Can Teach Us About Modern Bone Health And Why It Matters for Osteoporosis Today

Illustration comparing a Neanderthal (left) and a modern human (right). Credit- Alice Walczer Baldinazzo

3D reconstruction of Neanderthal child’s tooth and arm bone. Credit - Justyna Miszkiewicz

Bone health begins long before we take our first steps. The foundations of bone strength, density, microstructure, and mineralisation, are laid during fetal development, shaping our lifelong risk of fractures and osteoporosis. Understanding how bones form in early life is therefore essential not only for evolutionary science but also for modern medicine.

Our new study published in Royal Society Open Science offers a rare and remarkable opportunity to explore those foundations deep in our evolutionary past. By analysing the remains of Neanderthal infants, we uncovered clues about how our ancient relatives grew in the womb, and what that can tell us about the biology of bone quality today.

A rare glimpse into Neanderthal infancy
We focus on three exceptionally rare Neanderthal immature remains from Sesselfelsgrotte in southeastern Germany, dating between 90,000 and 50,000 years ago. Infant fossils are almost never preserved, making this dataset one of the most valuable windows into early Neanderthal life. Using high‑resolution micro‑CT scanning, we reconstructed the internal microanatomy of fetal and newborn bones and two children's teeth. Our findings reveal:

• Prenatal bone development in Neanderthals was strikingly similar to that of modern humans, including the same early bone tissues and growth patterns.
• Long bones such as the femur and humerus were slightly more advanced than cranial bones, hinting at subtle differences in growth timing or biomechanics.
• Two of the children showed dental mineralisation defects, signs of metabolic stress, possibly linked to vitamin D or calcium deficiency, that still affect bone health in modern populations.

Why this matters for understanding osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is often described as a disease of ageing, but its roots lie in early development. The microscopic architecture of bone formed in the womb influences how strong or fragile our skeleton remains decades later.

Our research highlights that:

• Many aspects of bone development are deeply conserved across human evolution, suggesting that the biological foundations of bone strength are ancient and stable.
• Early-life metabolic stress leaves permanent signatures in bone and teeth, reinforcing the importance of maternal health, nutrition, and environment.
• Comparing Neanderthal and modern human development helps identify which skeletal traits are evolutionarily robust and which are vulnerable, which is key to understanding why osteoporosis risk varies among individuals today.

By looking to the past, we gain insight into the biological constraints and possibilities of our own bones.

In the news
Our study has attracted wide international coverage (June 2026), some examples below:

• Archaeology News Online Magazine Rare Neanderthal baby remains reveal growth patterns similar to modern humans and signs of metabolic disease 
• University of Queensland Press Release Baby fossils reveal link between human and Neanderthal development 
• IFLScience Skeleton of Unborn Neanderthal Helps Reveal How They Developed in the Womb 
• Sul Informação (Portugal) Investigação liderada por Centro de Arqueologia da UAlg revela novos dados sobre o desenvolvimento inicial dos Neandertais ​

Read our full study here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/6/260485/482134/Early-development-of-Neanderthals-revealed-through