Tracing Neanderthal ancestry patterns through successive population expansions in Europe.

A Southeast-to-Northwest gradient of Neanderthal ancestry across Europe emerges from the interplay of expansion direction, Neanderthal range limits, and strong reproductive isolation, without natural selection.

• Why it matters: The work addresses how ancient DNA patterns can reflect population dynamics during successive human range expansions, rather than requiring selection to explain spatial ancestry structure.
• What they did: The authors built a three-population, layered, spatially explicit simulation tracking Neanderthal ancestry through two successive expansions, modeling interactions among Neanderthals, pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherers, and Neolithic farmers.
• The result: The similar direction of the Neolithic expansion explains why the gradient persists and why Neanderthal ancestry differs between hunter-gatherers and farmers, showing spatiotemporal ancient DNA can inform past dynamics.

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