40,000-year-old Europeans carried haplogroups M, N, R, U8

March 06, 2026Bioarchaeology

Source: The First Europeans Who Conquered Neanderthals 45k years ago by Timeless with Fred Snyder

Ancient DNA from upper Paleolithic Europeans reveals maternal haplogroups including N, R, and U8 — showing early Homo sapiens in Europe were genetically diverse with ties to Asian lineages. Some haplogroups later vanished from Europe while persisting elsewhere, hinting at later population replacements. Specifically, haplogroup M is nearly absent in modern Europe but widespread in East, South, Southeast Asia and Oceania; haplogroups N and R are basal branches of the non-African mitochondrial DNA tree; and U8 appears in upper Paleolithic European remains and is ancestral to haplogroups U5 and U4 — along with sharing a common origin with U5.

Key facts

DNA from 40,000-year-old Homo sapiens in Europe shows maternal haplogroups M, N, R, and U8
Haplogroup M is nearly absent in modern Europe but widespread in East, South, Southeast Asia and Oceania
This suggests early Europeans shared close ancestry with populations that gave rise to Asians and Australo-Melanesians
Haplogroups N and R are basal branches of the non-African mitochondrial DNA tree
U8 appears in upper paleolithic European remains and is ancestral to haplogroups UF and U4
These maternal lineages show the earliest waves of Homo sapiens into Europe were genetically diverse
Haplogroup M vanished from Europe while persisting in Asia, indicating population replacement