Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from eight fossils found in Stajnia Cave in Poland reveals a tight-knit group of Neanderthals who lived about 100,000 years ago, offering one of the clearest genetic snapshots yet of a single community in prehistoric Europe.
At least seven Neanderthals lived in Stajnia Cave in what is now Poland around 100,000 years ago. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.
Stajnia Cave is situated at an elevation of 359 m, between the villages of Mirów and Bobolice in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland of southern Poland.
The cave was formed within massive limestone and features a narrow entrance.
Archaeological excavations were conducted at the site from 2007 to 2010, focusing on an area of around 16 m2 located in the rear section of the cave.
Among the most significant finds in the cave are nine human teeth, five of which have previously been taxonomically identified as Neanderthal.
In the current study, University of Bologna’s Professor Andrea Picin and colleagues extracted and analyzed mtDNA from these nine specimens.
They determined that the fossils came from at least seven — and possibly eight — Neanderthal individuals.
Remarkably, three of the specimens carry identical mtDNA, suggesting that they are either from the same or maternally related individuals.
By analyzing subtle patterns in the DNA, the researchers estimate that all of the individuals lived during a warm period between roughly 120,000 and 92,500 years ago.
That makes this the oldest known group of multiple Neanderthals identified through genetic evidence in Central Europe.
“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,” Professor Picin said.
“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.”
“We had known for some time that Stajnia Cave preserved exceptional evidence, but these results exceeded our expectations,” said Dr. Wioletta Nowaczewska of the University of Wrocław and Dr. Adam Nadachowski from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
“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 scientists also found that Neanderthals with similar genetic signatures once lived as far apart as southeastern France, the Iberian Peninsula, and the northern Caucasus.
This suggests that this maternal lineage was once widespread across Europe, before eventually being replaced by a different genetic line seen in later Neanderthals.
“A particularly fascinating aspect is that two teeth belonging to juvenile individuals and one belonging to an adult share the same mtDNA,” said Dr. Mateja Hajdinjak, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
“This suggests that these individuals might be closely related to each other.”
Another key part of the study involves a comparison with a Neanderthal known as Thorin, discovered in Mandrin Cave in France.
This individual carries mtDNA strikingly similar to that of the Stajnia Neanderthals, yet has been dated to about 50,000 years ago.
“Our study is a reminder that the oldest chronologies must be treated with great caution,” said University of Bologna’s Professor Sahra Talamo.
“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.”
The results were published this week in the journal Current Biology.
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Andrea Picin et al. First multi-individual Neanderthal mitogenomes from north of the Carpathians. Current Biology, published online April 20, 2026; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.03.069
