Neandertal and Denisovan DNA from Pleistocene sediments

Viviane Slon (1) , Charlotte Hopfe , Clemens L Weiss , Fabrizio Mafessoni , Marco de La Rasilla (2) , Carles Lalueza-Fox (3) , Antonio Rosas (4) , Marie Soressi (5) , Monika V. Knul (6) , Rebecca Miller , John R. Stewart , Anatoly P. Derevianko , Zenobia Jacobs (7) , Bo Li (8) , Richard G Roberts (7) , Michael V Shunkov , Henry De Lumley , Christian Perrenoud , Ivan Gušić , Željko Kućan , Pavao Rudan , Ayinuer Aximu-Petri , Elena Essel , Sarah Nagel , Birgit Nickel , Anna Schmidt , Kay Prüfer , Janet Kelso , Hernán A Burbano , Svante Pääbo , Matthias Meyer

1 Sackler Faculty of Medicine
2 Area de Prehistoria
3 UPF - Universitat Pompeu Fabra [Barcelona]
4 Departamento de Paleobiologia
5 Department of Human Evolution [Leipzig]
6 Faculty of Archaeology
7 University of Wollongong [Australia]
8 LVTS (UMR_S_1148 / U1148) - Laboratoire de Recherche Vasculaire Translationnelle

* Although a rich record of Pleistocene human-associated archaeological assemblages exists, the scarcity of hominin fossils often impedes the understanding of which hominins occupied a site. Using targeted enrichment of mitochondrial DNA, we show that cave sediments represent a rich source of ancient mammalian DNA that often includes traces of hominin DNA, even at sites and in layers where no hominin remains have been discovered. By automation-assisted screening of numerous sediment samples, we detected Neandertal DNA in eight archaeological layers from four caves in Eurasia. In Denisova Cave, we retrieved Denisovan DNA in a Middle Pleistocene layer near the bottom of the stratigraphy. Our work opens the possibility of detecting the presence of hominin groups at sites and in areas where no skeletal remains are found.

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Viviane Slon, Charlotte Hopfe, Clemens L Weiss, Fabrizio Mafessoni, Marco de La Rasilla, et al.. Neandertal and Denisovan DNA from Pleistocene sediments. Science, 2017, 356 (6338), pp.605-608. ⟨halshs-02299010⟩