Studies of Neanderthal teeth have suggested that they developed somewhat differently from modern humans — reaching adult body size and possibly adult dental maturity on a slightly faster schedule, with implications for the overall pace of their life history.

Whether Shanidar Z’s teeth have been subjected to full histological analysis as part of the Cambridge work has not been fully published as of the available evidence.

But the techniques exist and are increasingly applied to well-preserved specimens, making it one of the tools that future researchers will likely bring to bear on this material.

For an individual estimated to have been an older adult at the time of her death, the teeth represent a record of her developmental history — the years of childhood and adolescence encoded in the microscopic structure of the enamel that formed during those periods.

The Argument From Convergence