New Relatives

 

     Almost ten years ago archaeologists discovered the remains of a neanderthal dubbed the name Thorin and for those ten years archaeologists have been gathering teeth and excavating the area known as Grotte Mandrin in France. With new technology and knowledge on the subject of genetics researchers are able to accurately analyze Thorin's DNA and discover his story within his remains. From the analysis it was revealed that the neanderthal was originally from an isolated lineage of neanderthals that broke away from a bigger group and stayed isolated within the Grotte Mandrin area 42-50,000 years ago. This isolation later led to inbreeding which can be told from the analysis of the DNA and genetic code. What surprised researchers was that in the area there were other groups of neanderthals but they hadn't interacted at all even thought they were only a two weeks walk away. It is believed that due to the inbreeding the isolated population had become vulnerable due to less genetic diversity and within their community the were content on staying in one area.

    Some Researchers theorize that there is another population like Thorin's and there could've been even more smaller populations isolated that did not move because they didn't have the same drive to expand and explore like homo sapiens did at the time. Homo sapiens around this age were building social networks and were able to adapt better to changes than neanderthals were. This is also is one of the reasons why researchers believe that the neanderthal population went extinct because of inbreeding and not being able to adapt the way homo sapiens were able to. This revelation can lead deeper into the history behind lost ancient relatives and give more information to back up what really happened to the neanderthals and why were so many isolation themselves to small populations when there were other populations nearby.

Source: 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-dna-reveals-neanderthal-group-was-isolated-for-50000-years-180985068/

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-dna-unveils-unknown-neandertals