AI interpretationAI-generated
Belgian late Neanderthals were one connected group, not isolated inbred bands.
This study sequenced 27 late Neanderthals from Belgium and France, including a high-coverage genome from Goyet. Most were more closely related to each other than to other European Neanderthals, yet they lacked signs of close-relative mating seen in Altai Neanderthals. Some carried DNA from an older Neanderthal lineage. Despite overlapping in time with early modern humans, there was no recent modern human gene flow, and genetic load did not increase over time.
- Most individuals from the Meuse Basin were more closely related to each other than to other contemporaneous European Neanderthals.
- Some carried DNA from a Neanderthal lineage that predates the split of late Neanderthals.
- No evidence of recent gene flow from early modern humans, despite temporal overlap around 47,000 years ago.
- They lacked close-relative mating signatures seen in Altai Neanderthals, suggesting larger or better-connected groups.
- Genetic load did not accumulate over time, arguing against progressive genetic deterioration as an extinction driver.
Sample interpretation
The site lists 37 samples, with 36 assigned to Neanderthal culture. Y-chromosome resolution is low: 3 samples fall under Neanderthals and 1 under Neanderthals-A21391. Mitochondrial DNA is mostly unresolved (2 N/A), with 3 J2a1a1a, 1 H, and 1 U5b1c1a. These later mtDNA lineages likely reflect contamination or modern human admixture in some samples, not the original Neanderthal population.
For genealogy enthusiasts
For ancestry enthusiasts, this shows late Neanderthals in northwest Europe were not a tiny, doomed inbred clan. They were part of a connected regional population, and their extinction was probably not driven by gradual genetic decline alone.
Abstract
Archaeological, osteological and genetic evidence suggests that Neanderthals lived in small groups1,2; however, less is known about whether these groups were part of isolated communities or belonged to larger, well-connected populations3. The dense concentration of broadly contemporaneous Neanderthal sites in the Meuse Basin, Belgium4, provides a rare opportunity to study regional populations at high resolution. Here we generated genetic data from 27 Neanderthals who lived less than approximately 52,500 years ago from ten archaeological sites in Belgium and France, including a high-coverage genome from a 45,000-year-old individual from Goyet, Belgium. We show that most of these individuals are more closely related to one another than to other contemporaneous late Neanderthals in Europe. Further, some of these individuals carry DNA from a Neanderthal lineage predating the split of late Neanderthals. Although these Neanderthals overlapped temporally with early modern humans in northwestern Europe from around 47,000 years ago, we find no evidence of recent gene flow from modern humans. They also do not show the genetic signatures of mating among close relatives found in Altai Neanderthals, suggesting that they lived in larger or better-connected groups. Moreover, genetic load did not accumulate over time, arguing against progressive genetic deterioration as a driver of Neanderthal extinction.