Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals

Authors

Laurits Skov, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Stéphane Peyrégne, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Divyaratan Popli, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Leonardo N.M. Iasi, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Thibaut Devièse, Aix Marseille Université
Viviane Slon, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Elena I. Zavala, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Mateja Hajdinjak, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Arev P. Sümer, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Steffi Grote, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Alba Bossoms Mesa, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
David López Herráez, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Birgit Nickel, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Sarah Nagel, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Julia Richter, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Elena Essel, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Marie Gansauge, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Anna Schmidt, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Petra Korlević, Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Daniel Comeskey, Oxford Social Sciences Division
Anatoly P. Derevianko, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Aliona Kharevich, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sergey V. Markin, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sahra Talamo, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
Katerina Douka, Universität Wien
Maciej T. Krajcarz, Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Richard G. Roberts, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health
Thomas Higham, Universität Wien
Bence Viola, University of Toronto

Publication Name

Nature

Abstract

Genomic analyses of Neanderthals have previously provided insights into their population history and relationship to modern humans1–8, but the social organization of Neanderthal communities remains poorly understood. Here we present genetic data for 13 Neanderthals from two Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia: 11 from Chagyrskaya Cave9,10 and 2 from Okladnikov Cave11—making this one of the largest genetic studies of a Neanderthal population to date. We used hybridization capture to obtain genome-wide nuclear data, as well as mitochondrial and Y-chromosome sequences. Some Chagyrskaya individuals were closely related, including a father–daughter pair and a pair of second-degree relatives, indicating that at least some of the individuals lived at the same time. Up to one-third of these individuals’ genomes had long segments of homozygosity, suggesting that the Chagyrskaya Neanderthals were part of a small community. In addition, the Y-chromosome diversity is an order of magnitude lower than the mitochondrial diversity, a pattern that we found is best explained by female migration between communities. Thus, the genetic data presented here provide a detailed documentation of the social organization of an isolated Neanderthal community at the easternmost extent of their known range.

Open Access Status

This publication may be available as open access

Volume

610

Issue

7932

First Page

519

Last Page

525

Funding Number

715069

Funding Sponsor

H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05283-y