June
10
/ 2025
Using state-of-the-art computer modeling and climate reconstructions, a team of anthropologists has unveiled the possible migratory highways used by Neanderthals to journey thousands of kilometers from Eastern Europe to the remote reaches of Siberia - an odyssey that may have taken less than 2,000 years. The study, published in PLoS ONE and led by Emily Coco of the University of Algarve and Radu Iovita of New York University's Center for the Study of Human Origins, proposes that Neanderthals' dispersal into Central and Eastern Eurasia was not only possible, it was almost inevitable. "Despite natural barriers like mountains and glacial rivers, Neanderthals could have moved remarkably quickly across northern Eurasia," explains Coco. "The key was timing their journeys during periods of
