Kristina Killgrove is an archaeologist with specialties in ancient human skeletons and science communication. Her academic research has appeared in numerous scientific journals, while her news stories and essays have been published in venues such as Forbes, Mental Floss and Smithsonian.
Most ice age teens started puberty around the same time as humans in modern times do, according to archaeologists who studied the skeletons of adolescents who died in Europe between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago. But physical maturity was delayed in some individuals, likely because of their challenging and hazardous lifestyles.
The researchers were able to determine the stage of puberty reached in 11 of the 13 ice age individuals. They discovered that these ancient adolescents had their growth spurt between the ages of 13 and 16, similar to the range of 12.5 to 14 years for modern foraging groups. Ice age teens also reached maturity between the ages of 16 and 21.
However, one major difference between ice age adolescents and modern ones can be seen in the estimates for menarche, or the beginning of menstruation. Although the researchers' sample size is small — just five females from this time period — they concluded that the age of menarche was no earlier than 16 to 17 years old. In the modern U.S. population, the average age that menstruation begins is 11.9 years old.
"A perspective from deep time helps us to contextualize puberty today — something that a more limited snapshot can't do," she added.
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