Pleistocene sediment DNA reveals hominin and faunal turnovers at Denisova Cave

Elena I. Zavala (), Zenobia Jacobs (), Benjamin Vernot, Michael V. Shunkov, Maxim B. Kozlikin, Anatoly P. Derevianko, Elena Essel, Cesare Fillipo, Sarah Nagel, Julia Richter, Frédéric Romagné, Anna Schmidt, Bo Li, Kieran O’Gorman, Viviane Slon, Janet Kelso, Svante Pääbo, Richard G. Roberts () and Matthias Meyer ()
Additional contact information
Elena I. Zavala: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Zenobia Jacobs: University of Wollongong
Benjamin Vernot: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Michael V. Shunkov: Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch
Maxim B. Kozlikin: Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch
Anatoly P. Derevianko: Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch
Elena Essel: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Cesare Fillipo: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Sarah Nagel: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Julia Richter: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Frédéric Romagné: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Anna Schmidt: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Bo Li: University of Wollongong
Kieran O’Gorman: University of Wollongong
Viviane Slon: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Janet Kelso: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Svante Pääbo: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Richard G. Roberts: University of Wollongong
Matthias Meyer: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Nature, 2021, vol. 595, issue 7867, 399-403

Abstract: Abstract Denisova Cave in southern Siberia is the type locality of the Denisovans, an archaic hominin group who were related to Neanderthals1–4. The dozen hominin remains recovered from the deposits also include Neanderthals5,6 and the child of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan7, which suggests that Denisova Cave was a contact zone between these archaic hominins. However, uncertainties persist about the order in which these groups appeared at the site, the timing and environmental context of hominin occupation, and the association of particular hominin groups with archaeological assemblages5,8–11. Here we report the analysis of DNA from 728 sediment samples that were collected in a grid-like manner from layers dating to the Pleistocene epoch. We retrieved ancient faunal and hominin mitochondrial (mt)DNA from 685 and 175 samples, respectively. The earliest evidence for hominin mtDNA is of Denisovans, and is associated with early Middle Palaeolithic stone tools that were deposited approximately 250,000 to 170,000 years ago; Neanderthal mtDNA first appears towards the end of this period. We detect a turnover in the mtDNA of Denisovans that coincides with changes in the composition of faunal mtDNA, and evidence that Denisovans and Neanderthals occupied the site repeatedly—possibly until, or after, the onset of the Initial Upper Palaeolithic at least 45,000 years ago, when modern human mtDNA is first recorded in the sediments.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03675-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:595:y:2021:i:7867:d:10.1038_s41586-021-03675-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03675-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().