Last updated at 3:29 PM on 20th July 2011
Grandparents are a relatively new phenomenon, researchers said today.
Until around 30,000 years ago, mankind's ancestors had lifespans that were too short for three generations to live side-by-side, according to a study.
Simply, most people died before they were old enough to have grandchildren.
Scientists said their findings show that once life expectancy began to grow, populations expanded and societies started to thrive.
It is even possible that early humans' longer lifespans may have been the key factor which allowed them to establish their superiority over competitors like Neanderthals.
A long-running research project, studying the fossils of proto-humans stretching back three million years, reported some of its findings in the magazine Scientific American.
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