Nine teeth from France's Payre site, dated to about 250,000 years ago, show early European Neanderthals did not follow a single evolutionary pattern.
Micro-CT scans and geometric morphometric analysis exposed internal enamel and dentine structures that older studies could not see, strengthening evidence for mixed traits within the small sample.
Lower-layer teeth—especially front teeth—carry simpler features linked to earlier human groups, while upper layers show more derived Neanderthal traits within the same excavation sequence.
Some Payre features also match fossils from Biache-Saint-Vaast and Montmaurin-La Niche in France, while others resemble the older Sima de los Huesos sample in Spain.
The study argues Middle Pleistocene climate swings repeatedly split and reconnected European populations, making regional population structure—not a linear progression—a better model for Neanderthal evolution.
Did climate change force Neanderthals into diverse groups, shattering the idea of a single evolutionary path?
Our ancestors' DNA hints at interbreeding, but could it just be a story of long-lost, isolated groups?