So Close, So Far

Listen to Today's Edition:

In 2015, archeologists unearthed a surprising set of Neanderthal remains in France’s Rhône Valley – a discovery that’s only now beginning to reveal its secrets.

Nicknamed “Thorin,” after the famous dwarf from J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel “The Hobbit,” these fossilized remains were recovered from Grotte Mandrin, a rock shelter known for housing both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens at different points in history.

Thorin’s remains, consisting of teeth, jaw fragments, and finger bones, but his DNA has upended previous assumptions about Neanderthal populations in Europe, according to a new study.

Genomic analysis revealed that Thorin belonged to a previously unknown, isolated population of Neanderthals that diverged from other European Neanderthals around 105,000 years ago.

This small, genetically insular group survived in the region for roughly 50,000 years, almost until Neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 years ago.

The kicker was that these two lineages didn’t live too far from each other. Yet, the research team explained they don’t appear to have interacted with each other, noting that Thorin’s lineage remained completely genetically isolated.

“We thus have 50 millennia during which two Neanderthal populations, living about 10 days’ walk from each other, coexisted while completely ignoring each other,” Ludovic Slimak, the archeologist who led the study, said in a statement. “This would be unimaginable for Homo sapiens.”

Thorin’s DNA also shows evidence of inbreeding, with high numbers of identical gene pairs passed down from close relatives. While not ideal for long-term survival, these findings paint a picture of small, close-knit communities that didn’t mingle much with others – a stark contrast to the more socially expansive H. sapiens of the time.

The study’s findings challenge the previous view that Neanderthals were a genetically homogeneous population by the time of their extinction.

This isolation, according to Slimak, may have played a key role in their demise, making them more vulnerable to changes in climate, competition with H. sapiens, and the inability to innovate socially or technologically.

“They were happy in their valley and did not need to move, while Homo sapiens … they wanted to explore, to see what is there after this river, after this mountain,” Slimak told CNN.

Thorin’s remains continue to be slowly excavated, and Grotte Mandrin is likely to yield more surprises as researchers delve further into this mysterious Neanderthal lineage.