Snow Queen and Odin in the Pleistocene - did our relatives hibernate?

Recent research has proposed the intriguing hypothesis that some Middle Pleistocene hominins hibernated. Hibernation is a survival strategy utilized by several groups of vertebrates, but largely absent among large mammals. The hypothesis that ancient hominins hibernated is therefore extraordinary. Incrementally growing tissues such as dentine should capture hibernation-induced changes in proteomic and lipid composition, as dentine formation is directly linked to hormonal changes associated with periods of starvation. These signals should also preserve during life, as dentine does not remodel, and remain visible in archaeological samples, as skeletal proteins and lipids survive for millions of years. By providing direct molecular evidence for hominin hibernation during the Pleistocene, I aim to radically change our perception of hominin behaviour during Ice Ages, provide a novel approach to characterize behavioural adaptations of hominins and fauna during extreme glacial conditions, and potentially provide insights beneficial to inducing hibernation when we become a spacefaring species.