Via Neatorama comes this story of prehistoric people's caring for children born with disabilities . . . .
The discovery of the oldest known infant born with a skull deformity hints that, contrary to popular belief, early humans might not have immediately abandoned or killed their abnormal offspring, a new study says.
Many mammals are known to reject newborns with severe deformities. Scientists had therefore assumed that ancient humans behaved likewise.
But a new study shows that a 530,000-year-old fossil skull belonged to a child who lived to around the age of ten despite being born with a rare birth defect known as craniosynostosis, in which the skull segments close too early, interfering with brain development.
Increased pressure on the brain due to the deformity might have led to learning difficulties and health problems such as mental retardation.
"All children need care," noted study team leader Ana Gracia of the Centro UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamientos Humanos in Madrid.
But this child would likely have required "special need care" to have lived as long as it did, she said.
We like to think that we are more advanced than primitive peoples just because we have cars and computers . . . that is not necessarily the case . . .
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