An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” reports the results of the study of the inner ear of Neanderthals that suggests that at a certain point in their history there was a genetic bottleneck that may have contributed to their extinction. A team of researchers examined the semicircular canals, structures whose development is strongly determined by genes, to assess the history of Neanderthals. According to the conclusions, the morphological diversity of these anatomical structures shows a decline about 110,000 years ago.

This is not the only recent research that suggests a genetic stagnation of Neanderthals because a few weeks ago, an article was published in the journal “Scientific Reports” that focuses on the blood groups of Homo sapiens, Denisovans, and Neanderthals. Genetic analysis shows that Neanderthals had a blood type that’s very rare in Homo sapiens with very limited variability over about 80,000 years. This may have made them vulnerable to various health problems.

An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” reports comments on the variability of hominins that inhabited East Asia between 300,000 and 50,000 years ago and the proposal of a new species named Homo juluensis that includes fossils discovered in various parts of Asia, including those attributed to the Denisovans. Professor Christopher J. Bae of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and Xiujie Wu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences attempted to bring order to the organization of Asian hominin fossils from the Late Quaternary with the aim of creating a clearer system for understanding the human species that lived in Asia.

An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” reports a study on new fossils belonging to the hominins called Homo floresiensis and nicknamed hobbits found at the site of Mata Menge, on the island of Flores. A team of researchers examined these new fossils dated to about 700,000 years ago and concluded that the species Homo floresiensis could descend from Asian Homo erectus.

The discovery of hominins just over a meter tall in a cave at Liang Bua, on the island of Flores, aroused much curiosity and not only among professionals in the field. Nicknamed hobbits because of their small height, they stimulated discussions since the beginning about their origin and relationships with other hominins, especially with Homo sapiens.

An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the results of a study of over 2,500 fossils found in the Baishiya Karst Cave, in the Chinese region of Xiahe, on the Tibetan plateau, among which a partial rib attributed to a Denisovan. A team of researchers used an analysis technique called Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to attribute isolated and often fragmented bones to the right species through collagen characteristics. According to the researchers, the Denisovans may have lived in that cave between 200,000 and 40,000 years ago.

An article published in the journal “Science Advances” reports the results of a genetic analysis that reconstructs the interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals that occurred during the migrations of populations of these two species. A team of researchers from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, analyzed the DNA of over 4,000 Homo sapiens who lived in Eurasia over the last 40,000 years. The results show variations in the presence of genes inherited from Neanderthals following various interbreedings in different populations and at different times.