New study shows brain-damaged child was well cared for 100,000 years ago

[Ichingcarpenter]

New study shows brain-damaged child was well cared for 100,000 years ago



A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE has revealed the discovery of a Paleolithic child who appears to have suffered extensive brain damage after an injury, but survived for years afterwards. The child, who lived 100,000 years ago, would have been unable to care for himself or herself, so people must have spent years looking after the child. The finding dispels beliefs that parenting in the Paleolithic was excessively harsh.

The child’s skeleton was first unearthed decades ago in the Qafzeh cave system in Galilee, Israel, along with 27 other partial skeletons, stone tools and hearths. However, only recently have technological advancements enabled scientists to perform detailed studies on the child’s skull through CT scanning and 3D reconstruction of the skull and the surface changes inside the skull.

The digital images revealed that the child had suffered a blunt-force trauma at the front of the skull that produced a compound fracture, with a piece of bone depressed in the skull. The trauma could have been caused by accidental injury e.g. a fall, or it may have been the result of violence.

By identifying the precise area in which the bone of the skull caved inwards, scientists were able to pinpoint the area of the brain that would have been affected by the injury. According to this research, the skull trauma would have led to difficulties in controlling movements and speaking, as well as caused personality changes and impaired the child's social functioning. The child would have been rendered disabled and unable to care for himself or herself.

The analysis further revealed that the child was around 6 to 7-years-old at the time of injury, and 12 to 13-years-old at the time of death.


http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/new-study-shows-brain-damaged-child-was-well-cared-100000-years-ago

[jwirr]

1. In a class in college many of us were talking about my daughter and why I kept her at home. Some

of our fellow students were from Africa and gave us a surprising negative analysis of our American system of institutional care for disabled children and adults. They compared their own system of "it takes a village" to take care of persons who are disabled to ours that at the time was placing them in isolated buildings with little community involvement at all.

I think they would be much more supportive of our community based services today.

100,000 years ago they probably had the same idea of letting a community be responsible for this little 6-7 year old. And I suspect that 12-13 was considered a long life then.