Scientists found an 8-year-old Neanderthal child in a Belgian cave, and DNA from her molar is helping reveal a hidden chapter of our ancient past

She was about eight years old when she died in what is now Belgium. More than 120,000 years later, the remains of the Neanderthal child have become an important source of information about the species’ genetics, population history and childhood development.

The child, now known as the Scladina child, was discovered in Grotte Scladina, a cave near the village of Sclayn in Belgium. Her remains, including parts of the jaw and teeth, were recovered during excavations that have continued for decades. The material has since allowed researchers to investigate questions ranging from how quickly Neanderthal children grew to how early European Neanderthal populations were related to those that came later.

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A Neanderthal child preserved in a Belgian cave

Grotte Scladina was discovered in 1971 in a narrow valley near Sclayn. Excavations at the cave entrance revealed carved tools and other evidence of prehistoric activity. The University of Liège joined the archaeological work in 1978, after which investigations expanded considerably.

The site has produced tens of thousands of archaeological artifacts and around 120,000 animal bones dating to the Middle Paleolithic, making it an important prehistoric location in Belgium.

A major discovery came on July 16, 1993, when excavators recovered the left half of a human mandible. Further excavations produced a maxillary fragment and several teeth.

Research later established that the remains belonged to a single juvenile Neanderthal. A 2007 study of the child’s teeth estimated that the individual was about eight years old at death and showed a level of dental development comparable to modern children several years older.

Ancient DNA from the Scladina remains

The teeth did more than help researchers understand the child’s development. They also became a source of ancient genetic material.

Earlier research recovered mitochondrial DNA from the Scladina remains. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down through the maternal line and provides information about genetic relationships and population history, although it represents only a small portion of an individual’s overall genome.

The importance of the Scladina material grew as genetic sequencing techniques improved. In 2019, Stéphane Peyrégne and colleagues reported nuclear genomic sequences from the Scladina Neanderthal in Science Advances. The researchers studied the maxillary bone of the individual, who was dated to roughly 127,000 years ago by uranium-thorium analysis. Their genetic analysis placed the individual at an important point in the history of European Neanderthals.

Unlike mitochondrial DNA, nuclear DNA is inherited from both parents and contains substantially more information for studying ancestry and population history.

What the DNA revealed about Neanderthal populations

The 2019 research found that the Scladina Neanderthal and another early European Neanderthal from Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany were genetically closer to later European Neanderthals than to a roughly contemporaneous Neanderthal from Siberia.

The finding suggested that the two early European individuals lived around the period of the most recent common ancestor of later Neanderthals. The researchers concluded that later Neanderthals may therefore trace at least part of their ancestry to these early European populations.

The result added to evidence that Neanderthal population history was more complicated than a simple, uniform lineage spread across Europe and Asia. Genetic differences between populations changed over time, and the Scladina individual provided researchers with another window into that history.

The teeth reveal how quickly Neanderthal children developed

The Scladina child’s teeth have also provided clues about Neanderthal childhood.

In their 2007 PNAS study, Tanya M. Smith and colleagues examined the formation and eruption of the juvenile’s teeth. They found that most of the teeth had developed over a shorter period than would generally be expected in modern humans, while dental initiation and eruption were relatively advanced.

At approximately eight years old, the Scladina child displayed a degree of dental development comparable to modern human children several years older. The researchers argued that this suggested Neanderthals followed a faster developmental pattern and cautioned against estimating Neanderthal childhood development simply by applying modern human standards.

The teeth also preserve evidence of physiological stress. Incremental structures formed during tooth growth can provide information about developmental timing and episodes of stress experienced while the teeth were forming. Researchers used these features to reconstruct aspects of the child’s developmental history.

This evidence offers a rare glimpse into the life of an individual Neanderthal rather than relying only on adult fossils or isolated archaeological remains.

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Why the Scladina cave remains important

The significance of Grotte Scladina extends beyond the discovery of one child. Its archaeological layers preserve evidence from a long period of prehistoric activity, allowing researchers to examine Neanderthal behaviour and the environmental conditions in which they lived.

The cave’s archaeological record, together with the fossil remains and genetic material recovered there, has made it an important site for studying European Neanderthals.

For scientists, the Scladina child is therefore more than an ancient fossil. Her teeth and bones have contributed evidence about Neanderthal development, while genetic material from the remains has helped researchers investigate relationships between early and later Neanderthal populations.

She died thousands of generations before modern humans began recording their own history. Yet the remains left behind in a Belgian cave have allowed researchers to reconstruct fragments of her childhood, her biological development and her place in the much larger story of Neanderthal evolution.