6 days ago
The Last Neanderthal – DW – 06/02/2025
Did Homo sapiens and Neanderthals share the same habitat for a long period of time? Excavations by a French research team at the Mandrin Cave suggest as much.
The researchers' work has yielded even more astonishing findings.
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are a species of human that lived in Europe and Asia alongside modern humans (Homo sapiens) and became extinct around 40,000 years ago. Image: Arte France
The extinction of the Neanderthals, the one species that dominated the Eurasian continent prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens, is one of the most puzzling topics in archeology. How were these two hominids connected? Was Homo sapiens partially responsible for the eradication of the Neandertals from planet Earth? Or did the two potentially coexist over several millennia?
Image: Arte France
A team of researchers led by archaeologist Ludovic Slimak are working in the Mandrin Cave to answer these very questions. Their findings are being examined by scientists from the French research organization CNRS, using state-of-the-art archaeological methods.
Neanderthals probably lived in isolated groups. They therefore lacked the necessary genetic exchange that has greatly helped modern humans. This inbreeding could have been fatal. Image: Arte France
The Mandrin Cave has been the focus of several excavations since 1991. In 2015, a new discovery was made: Fossilized remains from the late Neanderthal period. The individual belonged to one of the last Neanderthal lineages.
The scientists succeeded in extracting genetic material from the root of one of 'Thorin's' molars, which could then be analysed. Image: Arte France
The archaeologists dubbed him "Thorin'. The find suggests that for a long time, Neanderthals lived very close to the newly arrived Homo sapiens - and that the two groups probably crossed paths.
Image: Arte France
Ludovic Slimak and the scientists from the French research organization CNRS provide an insight into the extraordinary results of their work.
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