A recent study has revealed that a Neanderthal named “Thorin” belonged to a previously unknown group that had been cut off from others for 50,000 years. Thorin’s DNA provides new clues about this ancient lineage.
Thorin’s remains were found in 2015 at the Grotte Mandrin rock shelter in southern France near the Rhône River. He was given his nickname after a character from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Some researchers call him the “last Neanderthal” because he may have lived about 42,000 years ago, just before Neanderthals vanished.
So far, only Thorin’s teeth and parts of his skull have been discovered. However, by studying his DNA, researchers hope to learn more about when and why Neanderthals went extinct.
Thorin’s Neanderthal community lived in isolation for thousands of years
A study published on September 11th in the journal Cell Genomics revealed new findings about a Neanderthal named Thorin.
Led by Ludovic Slimak from the Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics in Toulouse, France, the research showed that Thorin belonged to a group of Neanderthals who lived in isolation for thousands of years even though other groups were nearby.
Extinct hominin news. Painstaking excavation in France using tweezers is revealing bones of a Neanderthal–and DNA suggests this fellow (who they're calling "Thorin") was part of a distinct population, different from Neanderthal Classic. pic.twitter.com/S60qPVt5Ui
— Antonio Regalado (@antonioregalado) September 11, 2024
Slimak, who first discovered Thorin’s remains, had suggested this idea twenty years ago. He noticed differences in the stone tools found at Grotte Mandrin and believed that Neanderthals in the Rhône Valley were different from those in surrounding areas.
Unlike other groups, Thorin’s lineage didn’t adopt the newer tool-making methods seen at nearby sites.
In an email to Live Science, Ludovic Slimak shared that his theory from two decades ago has now been proven accurate. He explained that Thorin’s group had lived in complete isolation for 50,000 years, without any gene exchange with other Neanderthal populations.
His molars for DNA analysis
Slimak and his team used a small part of one of Thorin’s molars to analyze his DNA and confirmed he was male.
They also created a full genome sequence from the sample. When they compared Thorin’s DNA with other Neanderthal genomes from Europe, they found high genetic similarity, a sign of inbreeding within his isolated group.
Additionally, there was no evidence that Thorin’s group had interbred with modern humans. The researchers noted that the group was small and remained separate from other Neanderthal populations with available genetic data.
This discovery leads to new questions about the extinction of Neanderthals, including when and why this isolated group, along with the rest of the species, eventually disappeared.
The research team used various methods, such as radiocarbon dating and examining the cave’s geological layers, to estimate that Thorin lived between 52,000 and 42,000 years ago.
