Voice cracking, menstruation: B.C. research sheds light on Ice Age puberty

Teenagers who lived 25,000 years ago likely experienced the same stages of puberty as modern adolescents, and on a similar timeline, according to a new joint study.

Teenagers who lived 25,000 years ago likely experienced the same stages of puberty as modern adolescents, and on a similar timeline, according to a new joint study.

That includes a stage where the Paleolithic teens would have endured the same awkward, cracking voices that plague high school students to this day.

The findings were published Thursday in the Journal of Human Evolution, and detail the first evidence of puberty in adolescents who died during the last Ice Age. 

Paleontologists April Nowell from the University of Victoria and archaeologist Mary Lewis from the University of Reading co-led the project, collaborating with researchers from several other universities around the world, including in Monaco and Italy.

The team examined the bones of 13 ancient humans for markers of maturation, allowing them to estimate the "timing and tempo" of puberty, from growth spurts to sexual maturation.

"By analyzing specific areas of the skeleton, we inferred things like menstruation and someone’s voice breaking," said Nowell, in a news release from UVic.

Cracking voices occur when pubescent teenagers – more often boys than girls – are adjusting to the sudden growth of their larynx and vocal cords, and tend to last a few months.