A new genetic analysis of Neanderthal remains from Stajnia Cave offers an unusually detailed glimpse into a small group that lived together roughly 100,000 years ago.
An international team has analyzed ancient mitochondrial DNA from eight Neanderthal teeth recovered in Stajnia Cave in Poland. The study, published in Current Biology, offers something rarely possible in Neanderthal research: a genetic look at multiple individuals from the same place and the same broad time period.
The teeth belonged to at least seven Neanderthals who lived about 100,000 years ago, north of the Carpathian Mountains.
“This is an extraordinary result because, for the first time, we are able to observe a small group of at least seven Neanderthals from Central-Eastern Europe who lived around 100,000 years ago,” says Andrea Picin, professor at the University of Bologna and coordinator of the research. “In most cases, Neanderthal genetic data come from single fossils or from remains scattered across different sites and periods. At Stajnia, by contrast, it has been possible to reconstruct a small group of individuals, providing for the first time a coherent genetic picture of Neanderthals in this part of Europe.”
A Rare and Cohesive Genetic Snapshot
“We had known for some time that Stajnia Cave preserved exceptional evidence, but these results exceeded our expectations,” say Wioletta Nowaczewska of the University of Wrocław and Adam Nadachowski of the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences, co-authors of the study. “Being able to identify such an ancient small group of Neanderthals in such a complex site is an important achievement for Polish research and for the study of Neanderthals in Europe.”
The findings also shed light on how a specific Neanderthal maternal lineage spread across western Eurasia. The mitochondrial DNA from the Stajnia individuals belongs to the same branch identified in Neanderthals from the Iberian Peninsula, southeastern France, and the northern Caucasus.
This pattern suggests that the lineage was once widespread before later being replaced by genetic lines seen in more recent Neanderthals.
Clues of Family Ties
“A particularly fascinating aspect is that two teeth belonging to juvenile individuals and one belonging to an adult share the same mitochondrial DNA,” adds Mateja Hajdinjak, co-author of the article and researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. “This suggests that these individuals might be closely related to each other.”
The study also compares these remains with the Neanderthal fossil known as Thorin, discovered in Mandrin Cave in France. Thorin carries a mitochondrial genome similar to the Stajnia group and has been dated to about 50,000 years ago.
“Our study is a reminder that the oldest chronologies must be treated with great caution,” explains Sahra Talamo, professor at the University of Bologna and co-coordinator of the study. “When radiocarbon values approach the limit of calibration, it is essential not to assign more precision than the data can actually support. In such cases, the comparison between archaeology, radiocarbon dating, and genetics becomes crucial.”
From an archaeological perspective, the findings support the idea that Central Eastern Europe played an important role in Neanderthal history rather than serving as a peripheral region. Stajnia Cave and southern Poland offer a valuable setting for exploring how Neanderthals moved, interacted, and shared technologies across large parts of Europe.
Reference: “First multi-individual Neanderthal mitogenomes from north of the Carpathians” by Andrea Picin, Mateja Hajdinjak, Wioletta Nowaczewska, Maarten Blaauw, Alex Bayliss, Helen Fewlass, Timothy J. Heaton, Paula J. Reimer, John Richard Southon, Johannes van der Plicht, Lukas Wacker, Gregorio Oxilia, Rita Sorrentino, Antonino Vazzana, Erica Piccirilli, Stefano Benazzi, Marcin Binkowski, Paweł Dąbrowski, Adrian Marciszak, Paweł Socha, Krzysztof Stefaniak, Marcin Żarski, Andrzej Wiśniewski, Janet Kelso, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Adam Nadachowski and Sahra Talamo, 20 April 2026, Current Biology.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.03.069
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