The best genetic glimpse into the social lives of these ancient hominids has been obtained from DNA taken from Neandertals who lived together, as well as a few others.
Neandertal communities existed in Central Asia’s mountainous region as far back as 59,000 years ago. Small groups of female newcomers and close relativesResearchers report October 19th Nature.
That social scenario comes courtesy of DNA extracted from the teeth and bones of 13 Neandertals found at two caves in the foothills of southern Siberia’s Altai Mountains. According to evolutionary geneticist Laurits Sk of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany and his colleagues, these Stone Age people had a total genetic similarity of around 20. This is based on their ability to form communities that included about 20 individuals. Females are known for migrating from their homes to their mates.
It’s unknown whether Altai Neandertals’ small-scale lifestyle was unusual, perhaps due to living in a sparsely populated area, or mirrored Neandertal practices elsewhere in Asia and Europe. Numerous Central Europe’s Neandertals converted a forest to grassland.They could expand their communities when necessary, with an estimated 125,000 years of ageSN: 12/15/21).
Skov’s group studied the DNA of 11 Neandertals from Chagyrskaya CaveTwo Neandertals from Okladnikov Cave (SN: 1/27/20). Chagyrskayas were a father and his teenaged daughter, along with an adult female and an eight- to twelve-year-old boy who could have been her nephew/grandson.
Chagyrskaya’s group demonstrated that mitochondrial DNA, usually inherited from the mother showed greater diversity than DNA inherited from only the males. Researchers believe that adult females often moved to that area while their male counterparts remained there.
