Scientists have uncovered for the first time the remains of a closely related Neanderthal clan, including a family — a father and his daughter — in a Russian cave, offering a rare window into ancient times. The clan was discovered in one of the largest genetic studies of a Neanderthal population to date, published this week in the journal Nature. Scientists suspect they perished together about 54,000 years ago — perhaps tragically, from starvation or a big storm — in the mountains of southern Siberia. They were living on a rocky cliff top on the outer reaches of Neanderthals’ known range, which extended from the Atlantic regions of Europe to central Asia. The social organization of Neanderthal populations is not well understood. The latest research suggests that in Siberia at least, Neanderthals lived in groups of 10 to 20 people — similar to present-day mountain gorillas, which are an endangered species. Unlike many archaeological sites, which contain fossils built up over long periods, genetic studies on 11 Neanderthals found in the Chagyrskaya Cave — in the Altai Mountains, near the Russian border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China — showed many of them were close relatives, suggesting they all lived around the same time. Read more through the link in our bio.