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Why do researchers think some Neanderthal groups may have been patrilocal?
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Neanderthal
Artist's rendering of Homo neanderthalensis, who ranged from western Europe to Central Asia for some 100,000 years before dying out approximately 30,000 years ago.
Researchers suggest that some Neanderthal groups may have been patrilocal based on genetic evidence recovered from sites containing the remains of multiple individuals.1
Analysis of ancient DNA indicates that these Neanderthals lived in small, isolated, and close-knit extended family groups. Within these groups, the males were found to be closely related to one another. This pattern of relatedness suggests a social structure where females moved away from their birth groups to settle with the relatives of their male partners, a practice known as patrilocality.12