Genetics: The genetic diversity of the last northwestern Neanderthals (Nature)
25 June 2026
Some of the last surviving Neanderthals of northwestern Europe may have lived in large, well-connected groups, separate from other Neanderthals and early humans, according to research published in Nature. These Neanderthals, including at least 11 distinct individuals who lived less than 52,500 years ago, were found to be genetically diverse, challenging the notion that genetic deterioration was a major cause of their extinction.
Genetic studies of Neanderthals are limited by poor DNA preservation; thus, little is known about the social and genetic structure of Neanderthals, and what causes contributed to their extinction around 40,000 years ago.
Alba Bossoms Mesa and colleagues sequenced DNA from 27 Neanderthal remains from seven locations in Belgium’s Meuse Basin (an area uniquely rich in Middle Palaeolithic sites) and two in France. A 45,000-year-old Neanderthal from Goyet cave in Belgium provided the fifth high-coverage Neanderthal genome sequenced to date. The authors also recovered genome-wide nuclear data from 19 less well-preserved remains. From these data, the authors find that many individuals were not closely related, suggesting they lived in large, well-connected groups. Unlike other Neanderthal groups, the authors find little evidence of inbreeding, suggesting reduced genetic diversity was not the primary cause of their disappearance.
Genetic analyses show these Neanderthals separated from a common ancestor with other known Neanderthals approximately 54,000 years ago, and they were reportedly more closely related to one another than to other Neanderthal groups. The Neanderthals in this study are thought likely to have overlapped for up to 500 generations with early modern humans, yet the authors find no modern human genome introgression.
These findings provide a reference point for understanding the genetic diversity of the late Neanderthals shortly before their disappearance. Taken together, these data reveal greater genetic diversity among Neanderthals than previously thought, offering insight into how late Neanderthals lived and died.
- Article
- Open access
- Published: 24 June 2026
Bossoms Mesa, A., Essel, E., Peyrégne, S. et al. Genetic diversity of late Neanderthals in northwestern Europe. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10625-1
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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01704-4
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