A new study published in Nature Communications sheds light on a crucial population setback for Neanderthals around 110,000 years ago. Researchers at Binghamton University analyzed fossils from Atapuerca in Spain and Krapina in Croatia to find evidence of reduced physical variation.
The team focused on the semicircular canals in the inner ear, which contribute to balance and reflect deeper genetic characteristics. The findings suggest that early Neanderthals had a wider range of physical variation compared to their later counterparts. This reduction is consistent with a bottleneck event, where genetic diversity plummeted.
Neanderthals’ disappearance remains one of the biggest puzzles in human history, but researchers believe studying their genetics and skeletal structure can help answer questions about their lives and interactions with their environment. The new study uses innovative methods to analyze fossils and provides fresh insights into Neanderthal biology.
The discovery supports the idea that a key drop in variation took place around 110,000 years ago. This event could have been triggered by changes in the environment or interactions with other humans. Further research is needed to determine the extent of this reduction and whether brief population recoveries followed or if decline continued until Neanderthals disappeared.
The study’s findings are exciting for scientists who want to understand how genetics guided the lives of these hardy populations. As new fossil discoveries come to light, more pieces of the Neanderthal puzzle fall into place.
Source: https://www.earth.com/news/neanderthal-fossils-reveal-signs-of-a-population-collapse