US scientists using DNA find there were more Neanderthals than previously thought

A new way to use DNA to peer into the history of humanity is rewriting what experts know about our long-extinct cousins, the Neanderthals, US researchers said on Monday.

Previous research has suggested that near the end of their existence some 40,000 years ago, only about 1,000 Neanderthals were left on Earth.

But the new study shows their population was far larger, likely numbering in the tens of thousands, though they existed in isolated groups across Europe, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The genetic clues include Neanderthal DNA that contains mutations that usually occur in small populations with little genetic diversity. Also, Neanderthal remains found in various locations are genetically different from each other.

“The idea is that there are these small, geographically isolated populations, like islands, that sometimes interact, but it’s a pain to move from island to island,” said co-author Ryan Bohlender, a post-doctoral fellow at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas.

“So, they tend to stay with their own populations.”