Since Thorin was found in 2015, the team has pored over the Neanderthals DNA.
The teams research is nowpublishedinCell Genomics.
Neanderthals were a group of ancient humans that disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago.
Fossilized teeth of the Neanderthal ‘Thorin.‘Photo: Ludovik Slimak
Theyhad distinctive featuresthat included barrel chests, pronounced brows, and tall noses.
Thorins age makes him a late Neanderthal.
But the study presented inCellgoes much further than just the remarkable anecdote of an exceptional discovery.
Slimak suggested in aCellreleasethat Thorins population may have migrated from Gibraltar to France.
That indicates Neanderthals were more insular thanHomo sapiens, though at least some Neanderthal groups interbred with our species.
Slimak expanded on these ideas in his 2023 book,The Naked Neanderthal.
For now, insights from Thorins DNA are revealing details of our ancient human that were previously unknowable.
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