COMMENTARY

The of compassion

Jean-Jacques Hublin1 Department of , Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig,

eyond the biological traits that earliest and best-preserved case of se- differentiate ancient species of vere masticatory impairment in the hominins from extant humans, hominin fossil record (4). Over its life- differences in social organiza- time, this individual had lost all of its Btion remain an important yet difficult teeth except one, and thus, must have issue to assess. Psychological features survived for a significant period by con- and interindividual relations, in particu- suming only soft plant and animal foods lar, are among the least accessible as- that were easy to chew. The question is pects of past behaviors. Although the whether some external help was abso- fossil and archaeological records do not lutely required for such an individual to easily allow us to tackle these kinds of have access to this peculiar diet (5). issues, contrasting views on the cogni- As underlined by DeGusta (5), this tive capabilities and behavioral sophisti- kind of assessment can only be con- cation of fossil human species have ducted in a comparative way. In fact, often been expressed. In this issue of tooth loss surpassing that of Bau de PNAS, Gracia et al. (1) provide new l’Aubesier 11 and even approaching that evidence on the survival of an abnormal of D3444/D3900 has been documented individual with possible cognitive defi- in apes (5, 6). Primatologists studying cits from a group of pre-Neandertal chimpanzees in the wild have also re- hunter-gatherers, currently ported several cases of serious impair- Ͼ assigned to a geological age of 500 ka. ments. Individuals with snare injuries The cranium SH14 from the Sima de los resulting in severe upper limb wounds or Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, ) is even complete amputations of one hand the earliest documented case of human have been observed (7), demonstrating neurocranial and brain deformity in the that these disabilities can be overcome fossil record to date. Despite her/his Fig. 1. Chimpanzees sharing meat after a coop- erative hunt in the Taï forest (courtesy of Christo- by young or adult apes without much pathological condition, this individual conspecific care. However, these severe was not rejected at birth and survived phe Boesch). pathologies reported in non-human pri- until at least 5 of age, apparently mates result primarily from wounds receiving the same attention as other ently survived until an advanced age for inflicted over a lifespan or from the children from the group. a Neandertal (ca. 40 years), it has been senescence of adults already - Particularly extreme pathologies, al- argued that his survival was possible integrated into their groups. What legedly necessitating some support by only because he received support from seems to be lacking in the ape reper- conspecifics to allow the survival of other adults in the group. their bearer, have provided the ground toire is the survival of individuals with Similar claims for the social support for debates on the level of altruism and serious congenital abnormalities. In this of impaired individuals have been made, compassion reached by ancient homi- respect, SH14 is quite interesting, even in particular, about edentulous adults nins. Often underlying these debates is if she/he did not survive into adulthood. the notion that, in this respect, their be- who might have needed help with feed- The impact of this individual’s cranial havior was similar to our own and dif- ing from their companions. Significant malformation on her/his capabilities is ferent from that of apes. Among the antemortem tooth loss and alveolar difficult to assess, because, today, cogni- Pleistocene hominins, attention has been bone loss are well-documented in Nean- tive impairment occurs relatively infre- focused on the Neandertals in particu- dertals but less common and more lim- quently in cases of craniosynostosis with lar. This group has provided an abun- ited in older periods of the Middle only one affected cranial suture (8, 9). dance of paleontological material mostly (0.78–0.13 my ago) and Lower (1.7–0.78 However, she/he certainly displayed ab- dating between ca. 200 ka and 30 ka, my ago) Pleistocene. In the Late Middle normal anatomical features already visi- including nearly complete skeletons. Pleistocene, all of the teeth from a por- ble in her/his first of life. A similar Each of these rather complete skeletons tion of human mandible from Bau de case is represented by the Middle Pleis- displays one or more detectable trauma- l’Aubesier () were lost ante mor- tocene hominin from Sale´(Morocco) tisms on the bones, which, in a few tem or mechanically unstable at the (10). The Sale´individual was likely a cases, resulted in significant impair- time of death, with extensive bone loss female who reached adulthood even ments. One of the best known examples and the development of abscesses along though she suffered cranial distortion is that of a male individual from the site the dental arcade (3). Although this in- and muscular trauma related to a con- of Shanidar (Iraq) who survived an un- dividual was still able to chew, his ability genital torticollis. This deformation repaired fracture of the right arm above to masticate tough or hard food items likely resulted from shortage of amniotic the elbow (2). Subsequently, his upper would have been difficult and painful. A fluid and confinement of the fetus dur- arm became atrophied and nonfunc- much older and even more complete tional, and he may have lost his right edentulous specimen was yielded by the hand and forearm entirely. In addition, site of Dmanisi (), where the Author contributions: J.-J.H. wrote the paper. this individual was likely partially blind skull (D3444) and associated mandible The author declares no conflict of interest. and deaf, and had difficulties with loco- (D3900) of an early form of erec- See companion article on page 6573. motion. As the Shanidar 1 man appar- tus, dated ca. 1.77 my ago, represent the 1E-mail: [email protected].

www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0902614106 PNAS ͉ April 21, 2009 ͉ vol. 106 ͉ no. 16 ͉ 6429–6430 Downloaded by guest on September 25, 2021 ing gestation. Congenital torticollis phan. Recent experimental data confirm extended growth period that allows us causes a variable degree of asymmetry that, in some settings, young chimpan- to build and maturate a big and complex of the skull and face with reduced mo- zees demonstrate an understanding of brain. Although we start to reproduce bility of the neck and is often associated others’ goals and an altruistic motivation much later than apes, we wean our chil- with other deformities (11). Like the help, regardless of whether this yields a dren earlier and have shorter birth in- craniosynostosis described in SH14, such tervals. The result of this pattern is that postural deformities have a rather low after being weaned, children remain de- incidence rate (2% in extant popula- The level of altruism pendent for a longer time on mothers tions) (11) and one could speculate on who can have other offspring. In the the presence of these rare anomalies displayed by course of our evolution, this was made among the handful of fairly complete possible only by having the support of skulls known in the African and Euro- chimpanzees could be group members other than the mother pean Middle Pleistocene fossil record. (16). From this point of view, humans In any case, the Sale´and SH14 speci- much higher than what can be defined as ‘‘cooperative breed- mens demonstrate that individuals with ers.’’ When did the modern human life congenital abnormalities or illnesses was once thought. history pattern appear in the course of could survive for many years. evolution? Although life history models From an evolutionary perspective, the have suggested that this could be as old as the rise in meat consumption, the forms of altruism observed in animals in reward or not (15). However, this incipi- paleontological evidence tells a different general and in non-human primates, in ent altruism seen in chimpanzees seems story. Early Homo and Lower Pleisto- particular, have been primarily inter- to disintegrate in competitive situations or when food sharing is involved. Inter- cene H. erectus display a more rapid de- preted as either support to kin (helping velopment than extant humans (17–19). estingly, it has been observed that the those who carry the same genes) or sup- Perhaps the large-brained species of food most often shared by wild chim- port to those able to reciprocate the fa- Middle Pleistocene hominins, which the vor (helping oneself indirectly). This is panzees is meat. Cooperative hunting Sale´and SH14 specimens belong to, had in contrast to the trivial observation of (Fig. 1), as described in the Taï forest, already acquired most of the human humans helping others, even when the for example, can result in meat sharing pattern. However, evidence has shown helper receives no immediate benefit between hunt participants and nonpar- that later Neandertals still had more and the person being helped is a ticipants (14). Because the increase in rapid dental development than extant stranger. However, claims have been meat consumption is considered to be a Homo sapiens (20). made that the level of altruism displayed major evolutionary change in early Finally, the divide between apes and by chimpanzees could be much higher Homo, these hominins had to strengthen early humans might not be as large as than what was once thought (12). For a behavior likely preexisting. Another one tends to think. Rather than consid- example, there have been reported cases adaptive reason for why humans had to ering ancient human altruism as proof of captive chimpanzees rescuing com- amplify the incipient forms of altruism of the moral values of our predecessors, panions from drowning (13). Boesch observed in apes—in particular, regard- one should instead see it as merely part and Boesch-Achermann (14) have also ing immature individuals—is related to of the spectrum of adaptations that have described a case of a wild adult male our peculiar life history. Among pri- made humans such a prolific and suc- chimpanzee adopting an unrelated or- mates, humans are characterized by an cessful species.

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