A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain

Pere Gelabert (), Victoria Oberreiter, Lawrence Guy Straus, Manuel Ramón González Morales, Susanna Sawyer, Ana B. Marín-Arroyo, Jeanne Marie Geiling, Florian Exler, Florian Brueck, Stefan Franz, Fernanda Tenorio Cano, Sophie Szedlacsek, Evelyn Zelger, Michelle Hämmerle, Brina Zagorc, Alejandro Llanos-Lizcano, Olivia Cheronet, José-Miguel Tejero (), Thomas Rattei, Stephan M. Kraemer and Ron Pinhasi ()
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Pere Gelabert: University of Vienna
Victoria Oberreiter: University of Vienna
Lawrence Guy Straus: University of New Mexico
Manuel Ramón González Morales: Santander)
Susanna Sawyer: University of Vienna
Ana B. Marín-Arroyo: Universidad de Cantabria
Jeanne Marie Geiling: Universidad de Cantabria
Florian Exler: University of Vienna
Florian Brueck: University of Vienna
Stefan Franz: University of Vienna
Fernanda Tenorio Cano: University of Vienna
Sophie Szedlacsek: University of Vienna
Evelyn Zelger: University of Vienna
Michelle Hämmerle: University of Vienna
Brina Zagorc: University of Vienna
Alejandro Llanos-Lizcano: University of Vienna
Olivia Cheronet: University of Vienna
José-Miguel Tejero: University of Vienna
Thomas Rattei: University of Vienna
Stephan M. Kraemer: University of Vienna
Ron Pinhasi: University of Vienna

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Caves are primary sites for studying human and animal subsistence patterns and genetic ancestry throughout the Palaeolithic. Iberia served as a critical human and animal refugium in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 26.5 to 19 thousand years before the present (cal kya). Therefore, it is a key location for understanding human and animal population dynamics during this event. We recover and analyse sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) data from the lower archaeological stratigraphic sequence of El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain), encompassing the (1) Late Mousterian period, associated with Neanderthals, and (2) the Gravettian (c. 31.5 cal kya), Solutrean (c. 24.5–22 cal kya), and Initial Magdalenian (d. 21–20.5 cal kya) periods, associated with anatomically modern humans. We identify 28 animal taxa including humans. Fifteen of these taxa had not been identified from the archaeozoological (i.e., faunal) record, including the presence of hyenas in the Magdalenian. Additionally, we provide phylogenetic analyses on 70 sedaDNA mtDNA genomes of fauna including the densest Iberian Pleistocene sampling of C. lupus. Finally, we recover three human mtDNA sequences from the Solutrean levels. These sequences, along with published data, suggest mtDNA haplogroup continuity in Iberia throughout the Solutrean/Last Glacial Maximum period.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55740-7

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