In 2010, the first draft of the Neanderthal genome was released.The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has since sequenced an additional 18 genomes from 14 different Eurasian archaeological sites.Although these genomes have shed light on a lot about Neanderthal history in general, we still know very little about individual Neanderthal communities.
The researchers turned their attention to southern Siberia, a region that has previously been very productive for ancient DNA research, including the discovery of Denisovan hominin remains at the well-known Denisova Cave. This was done in order to investigate the social structure of Neanderthals.We are aware, as evidenced by the discovery of a child with a Denisovan father and a Neanderthal mother, that Neanderthals and Denisovans have been in this region for hundreds of thousands of years and have interacted with one another.
