Neanderthal population dwindled significantly about 110,000 years ago, potentially leading to their eventual demise.
In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers have found that the Neanderthal population may have experienced a significant bottleneck around 110,000 years ago. This revelation challenges the existing beliefs about the timeline of this event.
The study, conducted using CT scans to examine the semicircular canals of Neanderthals, used these evolutionarily "neutral" structures as a proxy to pinpoint when the bottleneck happened. The semicircular canals are a set of bony tubes in the inner ear, fully formed at birth, and their variation does not affect a person's survival. Tracking subtle changes in them can shed light on the size and diversity of a past population.
The team found that the late Neanderthals had significantly lower variation in their inner ear bones than the earlier groups, indicating a genetic bottleneck event occurred more recently than 120,000 years ago. This reduction in diversity between early and late Neanderthals is especially clear, providing strong evidence of a bottleneck event.
However, the exact environmental or ecological factors triggering this bottleneck are not clearly detailed in the study. The researchers suggest that the bottleneck may have been brought on by processes such as climate change, hunting, or genocide.
The findings of the study align with previous discoveries about Neanderthals, such as evidence of population turnover that negatively affected European Neanderthals' numbers. Interestingly, around this period, evidence suggests there were episodes of gene flow and interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans (Homo sapiens).
The study included Neanderthal fossils from three time periods: 13 from Sima de los Huesos in Spain (430,000 years ago), 10 from Krapina in Croatia (120,000 years ago), and seven from France, Belgium, and Israel (64,000 to 40,000 years ago). By including fossils from a wide geographical and temporal range, the researchers were able to capture a comprehensive picture of Neanderthal evolution.
This research suggests that Neanderthals may have been headed toward their demise much earlier than experts previously thought. The implications of this study may have significant implications for understanding the factors that led to the extinction of Neanderthals.
Co-author of the study, Mercedes Conde-Valverde, a biological anthropologist at the University of Alcalá in Spain, emphasised the importance of this discovery, stating, "By including fossils from a wide geographical and temporal range, we were able to capture a comprehensive picture of Neanderthal evolution."
The exact causes of the Neanderthal bottleneck remain a subject of ongoing research, but this study provides valuable insights into the genetic history of Neanderthals and their interaction with modern humans.
- The study's results could potentially have implications for the fields of health-and-wellness, as understanding the factors leading to Neanderthal extinction might offer insights into how environmental changes, like climate change and hunting, could affect human health in the future.
- The advancement in technology, such as the use of CT scans, has enabled us to delve deeper into the medical-conditions of extinct species like Neanderthals, providing us with a clearer picture of their evolution and the factors that contributed to their demise, including fitness-and-exercise habits or any specific conditions that might have been prevalent among them.
