Recent research reveals that interbreeding was not the primary cause of Neanderthal extinction in Western Europe. For detailed insights, check out the study published in Nature.
Previously, it was believed that Neanderthals faced extinction due to genetic deterioration from interbreeding among closely related groups. However, new findings indicate that other early interbreeding groups exhibited low genetic diversity, akin to some of today’s endangered species, but this did not apply universally.
The researchers analyzed DNA from 27 individuals who lived in the Meuse Basin, a region spanning Belgium and France, between 40,000 and 49,000 years ago—prior to the total extinction of Neanderthals.
The study revealed minimal interbreeding among distant relatives, showing little genetic exchange even down to the third degree (such as cousins sharing about 12.5% of their DNA).
According to the authors, “This population in Belgium and France does not appear likely to face extinction, despite our knowledge that they will eventually become extinct,” stated Dr. Benjamin Peter, a computational geneticist from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
Professor Omer Gokmen, an expert in evolutionary anthropology at the University at Buffalo, who was not involved in the study, stated in BBC Science Focus: “Neanderthal data is so lacking that the new genome is a revelation.”
“This contradicts the previously held belief that Neanderthals were a terminally frail population due to inbreeding-induced demographic collapse. It raises the question of why their population declined and was eventually absorbed by modern humans.”
Neanderthals thrived in Europe and the Middle East for hundreds of thousands of years, withstanding significant climatic changes and the arrival of modern humans before their extinction about 40,000 years ago.
Factors such as climate change, competition for resources, and interbreeding with modern humans have all been proposed as contributing elements to their decline.
Gokmen noted that the new findings suggest that the fate of Neanderthal populations may have varied by region, implying multiple contributing factors rather than a single cause.
Professor Chris Stringer, an emeritus professor at University College London and research scientist at the Natural History Museum, stated that the study indicates “other factors need to be considered” beyond interbreeding in their extinction.
He added, “This unidirectional pattern of gene flow into modern human populations supports my hypothesis that late Neanderthals were losing reproductive individuals due to genetic influences from Homo sapiens, which may have contributed to their eventual demise.”
This suggests that fertile Neanderthals may have gradually integrated into Homo sapiens populations through interbreeding, while the Neanderthal demographic could not sustain these losses.
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Source: www.sciencefocus.com
