Recent discoveries of Neanderthal remains in a cave in southern France have provided new insights into why Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000 years ago.
A study by researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Globe Institute suggests that Neanderthals' isolated lifestyle may have contributed to their demise, a hypothesis that has long been considered by scientists.
Social isolation of Neanderthals
The study, which involved the analysis of a Neanderthal male's remains, supports the idea that Neanderthals may have gone extinct due to inbreeding and limited social interaction.
According to Professor Martin Sikora, one of the researchers behind the study, the Neanderthal genomes reveal a pattern of inbreeding over generations, reducing their genetic diversity and weakening their chances of long-term survival.
“When we look at these genomes from Neanderthals, we see that they are quite inbred and therefore don’t have much genetic diversity. They have been living in small groups for many generations. We know that inbreeding reduces genetic diversity in a population, which can be detrimental to their ability to survive if it occurs over a longer term,” explained Professor Sikora.
New genome discovered
The newly discovered Neanderthal genome differs from other late Neanderthals previously studied, further supporting the theory that Neanderthals lived in small, isolated groups. In contrast, early modern humans appeared to have been more socially connected, which may have contributed to their survival.
The ability to communicate and exchange knowledge between groups would have been advantageous for early humans, especially as they formed networks that helped prevent inbreeding, as seen in Siberia.
“This is in the more speculative end, but even just the notion of being able to communicate more and exchange knowledge is something humans do that Neanderthals to some extent might not have done, due to their isolated lifestyles by organizing themselves in smaller groups. And that is an important skill to have,” said study co-author Tharsika Vimala, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen.
“We see evidence of early modern humans in Siberia forming so-called mating networks to avoid issues with inbreeding, while living in small communities, which is something we haven’t seen with Neanderthals.”
Limited amount of DNA
Although Neanderthal remains have been found across Eurasia, only a limited amount of their DNA has been successfully recovered.
Some of the oldest known Neanderthal DNA, dating back 120,000 years, has been extracted from specimens in the Altai Mountains, Belgium, and Germany. The “new” Neanderthal genome from France is one of only five such discoveries in Western Europe that are less than 50,000 years old.
“Our team in Copenhagen extracted DNA from his tooth, sequenced the DNA and analyzed his nuclear genome, which is the DNA found within the core of the cells. The DNA was analyzed along with other known Neanderthal genomes to understand their shared history,” Sikora explained.
Multiple Neanderthal communities in isolation
The researchers also re-analyzed the genome of another late Neanderthal from France, finding that this individual came from a different lineage than the newly discovered genome. This suggests that multiple isolated Neanderthal communities coexisted in Western Europe until their extinction.
This discovery adds an important piece to the puzzle of Neanderthal history. Previous studies of Neanderthals in more remote regions, like the Altai Mountains, had already hinted at the possibility that isolation played a role in their extinction, but the genomic evidence from Western European Neanderthals was lacking until now.
“It is something that we have talked about for a while. But we needed more evidence, and this is some of the evidence that we were looking for and needed to figure out how likely this hypothesis of them going extinct because of their isolated lifestyle is. We do, however, need much more genomic data to paint a better picture of their history,” Vimala said.
The study, published in the journal Cell Genomics , provides a crucial step toward understanding the reasons behind the Neanderthals' extinction and how their isolated way of life may have contributed to it.
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