Ancient DNA Reveals Genetic Diversity Among Last Neanderthals Before Extinction

For tens of thousands of years, Neanderthals endured ice ages, predators, and the slow grind of survival — only to vanish not from weakness, but from encounter. New ancient DNA analysis of western Europe's final Neanderthal populations reveals a species that was genetically diverse, socially connected, and environmentally stable at the very moment of its disappearance roughly 40,000 years ago. The evidence now points away from theories of internal collapse and toward the arrival of modern humans as the decisive force — a collision between two viable peoples in a landscape that would yield only