Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Close up, Idoia Goikoetxea

Idoia Goikoetxea has spent the last four years in Atapuerca. His research topic: metabolic needs of Neanderthal children, that is, how many kilocalories per day they needed.

We can't say where we're going because we're not on a line, but tell us where we came from? We find bones, both women’s and men’s and children’s; teeth and instruments also give us information. We build our hypotheses from those bones or instruments found. A new fossil appears to us, that fossil gives us more information, and as a result of that information we will say that our hypothesis is good, that we need to make small changes to our hypothesis, or instead we need to keep our hypotheses in a drawer and build a new hypothesis.

So we have to build hypotheses with what we have, how will these hypotheses end? - Who knows? Who knows!

Hello, my name is Idoia Goikoetxea Zabaleta. I am a Beasain and I work in the field of human evolution. Come with me to the palace of Igarza.

The most important thing about being a researcher is that, as a child, there is usually a tremendous amount of curiosity that we often lose with age. Therefore, being immersed in the world of science means that you do not lose that curiosity and for me this is very important. And that's the very good point of being a scientist.

The world of research also has its downsides. And you usually spend long periods of time away from your family because you don't do the research in one place. It’s not usually a fixed job; you need grants to carry out your research, and getting them isn’t easy. But, well, even if it's hard, what you get is to continue your research and you're happy to receive it.

As a child, I loved biology and history. And I've managed to find a theme that unifies these two issues and make my research around it. Right now I'm investigating the upbringing of Neanderthal children and how many kilocalories they had to take to carry out that upbringing.

I started my career in biology at the University of the Basque Country, on the Leioa campus. And I went to do a master’s degree at the University of Granada, a master’s degree in Physical and Forensic Anthropology. I got involved in research on bones, and while I was studying there, scholarships came out to work on state projects; I applied, one of the Atapuerca team, I called from there and I spent four years researching on it.

It is one of the most widely discovered bone excavation sites in the world.And I must say that in Atapuerca a new species has been discovered, a new human species: Homo antecessor. And there are children's bones in H. antecessor that I need for my research to investigate the growth. The problem is that they are very small parts, a bit of head bones, quite a few teeth, a few small pieces of bone... and I need whole bones. So it's a good place, yes, very good people, to help, to give ideas... but I haven't been able to use the bones of Atapuerca until now.

In order to carry out the research on Neanderthal growth, I have used the lengths of the femurs that I have found in the literature. And mathematical models are used to convert this femoral length to height first, and then these heights are used to make growth curves with mathematical models. We compare these curves with those of today's children. On the one hand I have taken here, the breeding data of the children of Beasain, and I have built a curve for the children of Beasain. And on the other hand, it is said that the Neanderthals lived in Europe during a very cold period, and Eskimos are usually used for comparison.

Height and weight are also closely related. Therefore, using other mathematical equations, we have obtained weight curves. And in the first year we have obtained the weight of a Beasain child, the weight of a Neanderthal child, and the weight of an Eskimo child. So, at 1, 2, 3... and 6 years old. There are some equations that are published worldwide that tell you how much weight you need to eat so that you can be well.

It is observed that between one and six years, they initially consumed in a similar way, but then their consumption decreases. They grow less. In contrast, it is said that adult Neanderthals had a tremendous consumption of kilocalories. In our case, they say that with 2000 kcal and women with 1800 kcal per day we will want it. It is estimated that the Neanderthals consumed 4000-5000 kcal per day. Therefore, if the child also consumed a lot, both the child and these adults would have been very difficult to survive. On the contrary, an adaptation of children can be to consume less and when they grow up and are able to go hunting or collect things, then they will start to demand a lot.