Poland’s 100,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth reveal a connected family and wide maternal lineage
A team analyzed mitochondrial DNA from eight Neanderthal teeth found in Stajnia Cave, Poland, recovering data from at least seven individuals who lived about 100,000 years ago. This offers the first cohesive genetic snapshot of a small Central‑Eastern European Neanderthal group, showing a maternal lineage also found in Neanderthals across Iberia, SE France, and the northern Caucasus—suggesting a once‑widespread lineage later replaced. Some teeth (juveniles and an adult) share mtDNA, implying kinship, and links to Thorin from Mandrin Cave (France) dating ~50,000 years ago emerge, underscoring the region’s role in Neanderthal history and the need to integrate archaeology, radiocarbon dating, and genetics while noting uncertainties near calibration limits.
