Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals

Laurits Skov (), Stéphane Peyrégne, Divyaratan Popli, Leonardo N. M. Iasi, Thibaut Devièse, Viviane Slon, Elena I. Zavala, Mateja Hajdinjak, Arev P. Sümer, Steffi Grote, Alba Bossoms Mesa, David López Herráez, Birgit Nickel, Sarah Nagel, Julia Richter, Elena Essel, Marie Gansauge, Anna Schmidt, Petra Korlević, Daniel Comeskey, Anatoly P. Derevianko, Aliona Kharevich, Sergey V. Markin, Sahra Talamo, Katerina Douka, Maciej T. Krajcarz, Richard G. Roberts, Thomas Higham, Bence Viola, Andrey I. Krivoshapkin, Kseniya A. Kolobova, Janet Kelso, Matthias Meyer, Svante Pääbo and Benjamin M. Peter ()
Additional contact information
Laurits Skov: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Stéphane Peyrégne: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Divyaratan Popli: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Leonardo N. M. Iasi: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Thibaut Devièse: Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Collège de France
Viviane Slon: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Elena I. Zavala: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Mateja Hajdinjak: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Arev P. Sümer: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Steffi Grote: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Alba Bossoms Mesa: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
David López Herráez: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Birgit Nickel: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Sarah Nagel: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Julia Richter: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Elena Essel: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Marie Gansauge: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Anna Schmidt: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Petra Korlević: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Daniel Comeskey: University of Oxford
Anatoly P. Derevianko: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Aliona Kharevich: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Sergey V. Markin: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Sahra Talamo: Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna
Katerina Douka: University of Vienna
Maciej T. Krajcarz: Polish Academy of Sciences
Richard G. Roberts: University of Wollongong
Thomas Higham: University of Vienna
Bence Viola: University of Toronto
Andrey I. Krivoshapkin: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Kseniya A. Kolobova: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Janet Kelso: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Matthias Meyer: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Svante Pääbo: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Benjamin M. Peter: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Nature, 2022, vol. 610, issue 7932, 519-525

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05283-y

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