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How Did Neanderthal Families Work?
The ultimate answer is probably “In as many different ways as our families work.” Like modern humans, Neanderthals probably arranged their families and clans in ways which were efficient for where they lived.
However, we know now a bit more about how, specifically, Siberian Neanderthals did so, as a result of a very unfortunate accident thousands of years ago.
The Siberian Clan
The scientists were able to sequence 13 Neanderthals who died in one of two caves at about the same time. The theory is that they may have died in a severe blizzard.
They included a father and daughter and a number of other close relatives. One has to take a moment to think about the survivors of this awful disaster, which appear to have included that man’s mate…imagine losing your husband and your daughter in one stroke like that.
It was a natural disaster. But it taught us something about how they organized families.
Neanderthals in that area appeared to have lived in medium-sized patrilocal clans.
Let’s stop to define patrilocal. Patrilocal simply means that when you get married, the woman moves to join the man’s family. This is fairly common in humans, but some cultures practice the reverse and have matrilocal clans.