The Mysterious Ancestry of Neanderthals in France Kept to Themselves for 50,000 Years

A Neanderthal named Thorin recently had his DNA tested, and it turns out that he represents an ancient human lineage that is genetically separated from other groups by at least 50,000 years.

A 45,000-year-old Neanderthal, named Thorin by researchers who recently analyzed his genome, was discovered in a French cave called Grotte Mandrin in 2015. Grotte Mandrin is a compelling site: Homo sapiens lived in the cave before the Neanderthals, and in 2023 researchers published the first known evidence of bow and arrow use in Europe from the cave.

Since Thorin’s discovery in 2015, the team has been testing Neanderthal DNA. The team compared Thorin’s genome with that of other recently known Neanderthals, revealing that the Thorin population did not change genetically with other Neanderthal groups for tens of thousands of years. The team’s research has now been published in the Cell Genomics.

The Neanderthals were an ancient human group that disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago. They had distinctive features including a barrel chest, pronounced brows, and long noses. Despite being a different type of people (Homo neanderthalensis), Neanderthals were born with them Homo sapiens to the point that many people today carry bits of Neanderthal DNA. Thorin’s age makes him a late Neanderthal. At the time of Thorin’s existence, his population had not interacted with other Neanderthal groups for about 50,000 years.

Finding Thorin was “the kind of unique find that an archaeologist would only dream of finding in a lifetime,” Ludovic Slimak, a CNRS researcher and lead author of the study, said in an email to Gizmodo. “But the lesson has been learned Cell it goes much further than the amazing anecdote of a special discovery. We present the result of almost 10 years of research, in the shadows, around this body and the genes of these people.”

By comparing Thorin’s genome to that of other Neanderthals across Europe, the team found that Thorin’s genome was identical to that of the Gibraltarian. Slimak suggested that a Cell the possible release of Thorin’s population from Gibraltar to France.

In the same release, Slimak pointed out that different Neanderthals lived “about ten days” from Thorin’s group, however the two tribes showed no genetic evidence of mixing. That shows that Neanderthals were more insular Homo sapiensalthough at least some Neanderthal groups intermingled with our species. Slimak expanded on these ideas in his 2023 book, The Naked Neanderthal.

“The study by Slimak and collaborators provides very important evidence about the small size, isolated Neanderthals,” said Marcelo Briones, a genome researcher at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil who is not affiliated with the latest paper, in an email to Gizmodo. .

Earlier this year, a team led by Briones identified the herpes virus in Neanderthal remains, raising questions about how the lack of genetic diversity in our late cousins ​​may have exposed them to environmental threats such as infectious diseases. “Perhaps a combination of population dynamics and structure combined with epidemic processes may have been important factors in the Neanderthal extinction,” Briones added.

More Neanderthal DNA from other populations across Europe could potentially improve our understanding of how the lost human species moved across the continent and interacted with other groups. Meanwhile, information from Thorin’s DNA reveals previously unknown details of our ancient self.