Genetic evidence for patrilocal mating behavior among Neandertal groups

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Carles Lalueza-Fox
  • Antonio Rosas
  • Almudena Estalrrich
  • Elena Gigli
  • Paula Campos
  • Antonio García-Tabernero
  • Samuel García-Vargas
  • Federico Sánchez-Quinto
  • Oscar Ramírez
  • Sergi Civit
  • Markus Bastir
  • Rosa Huguet
  • David Santamaría
  • Gilbert, Tom
  • Willerslev, Eske
  • Marco de la Rasilla
The remains of 12 Neandertal individuals have been found at the El Sidrón site (Asturias, Spain), consisting of six adults, three adolescents, two juveniles, and one infant. Archaeological, paleontological, and geological evidence indicates that these individuals represent all or part of a contemporaneous social group of Neandertals, who died at around the same time and later were buried together as a result of a collapse of an underground karst. We sequenced phylogenetically informative positions of mtDNA hypervariable regions 1 and 2 from each of the remains. Our results show that the 12 individuals stem from three different maternal lineages, accounting for seven, four, and one individual(s), respectively. Using a Y-chromosome assay to confirm the morphological determination of sex for each individual, we found that, although the three adult males carried the same mtDNA lineage, each of the three adult females carried different mtDNA lineages. These findings provide evidence to indicate that Neandertal groups not only were small and characterized by low genetic diversity but also were likely to have practiced patrilocal mating behavior.
Original languageEnglish
JournalNational Academy of Sciences. Proceedings
Volume108
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)250-253
Number of pages4
ISSN0027-8424
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Jan 2011

ID: 32221112