Evolution & Human Origins

A study incorporating fresh DNA data and archaeological evidence has revealed that the last Neanderthals in Europe experienced a massive population turnover. The research shows that late Neanderthals shared a largely uniform gene pool before their final disappearance around 40,000 years ago, descending from a single localized group that survived harsh Ice Age conditions. The international research team, led by Professor Cosimo Posth at the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, traced the dramatic genetic history of European Neanderthals. The new study, published in the journal PNAS, indicates that one localized group survived the severe climate by retreating to a glacial refugium in what is now southwestern France approximately 75,000 years ago. The descendants