Study: Puberty in ancient times was similar to that of modern teenagers

Recent research suggests that teenagers who lived during the Ice Age 10,000 to 30,000 years ago reached puberty at roughly the same age as modern teenagers. An international team of archaeologists, led by Mary Lewis, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Reading, studied the skeletal remains of 13 adolescents from various archaeological sites in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. The study, published in the Journal of Human Evolution on September 12, used “maturation markers” on the bones to assess different stages of puberty.

Understanding the puberty process among Ice Age teenagers

Babies are born with about twice as many bones as adults, and as they age, the bones fuse together. This process is key to understanding stages of puberty, such as the rapid growth spurt during puberty, the onset of menstruation, and the final fusion of bones that marks sexual maturity.

The researchers were able to determine that Ice Age adolescents experienced a growth spurt between the ages of 13 and 16, similar to modern hunter-gatherer groups. Physical maturity among these ancient people occurred between the ages of 16 and 21, slightly later than in modern Western societies, where adolescents typically mature between the ages of 16 and 18.

Insights from Ice Age adolescence and modern comparisons

Mary Lewis was surprised to find that Ice Age adolescents began puberty at around 13.5 years old, which matched modern estimates and suggested there might be a “genetic blueprint” for human sexual maturity. However, there were differences between the two, particularly when menstruation began.

The study shows that Ice Age women probably began menstruating no earlier than age 16 or 17, later than today’s average age of 11.9 in the United States but similar to modern hunter-gatherer groups.

A window into ancient puberty

April Nowell, a paleolithic archaeologist at the University of Victoria, said the study provides a long-term perspective on adolescence. It reveals that the patterns followed by modern teenagers have remained largely unchanged for thousands of years.