Homo sapiens reached the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mylopotamitaki, Dorothea; Weiss, Marcel; Fewlass, Helen; Zavala, Elena Irene; Rougier, Helene; Suemer, Arev Pelin; Hajdinjak, Mateja; Smith, Geoff M.; Ruebens, Karen; Sinet-Mathiot, Virginie; Pederzani, Sarah; Essel, Elena; Harking, Florian S.; Xia, Huan; Hansen, Jakob; Kirchner, Andre; Lauer, Tobias; Stahlschmidt, Mareike; Hein, Michael; Talamo, Sahra; Wacker, Lukas; Meller, Harald; Dietl, Holger; Orschiedt, Joerg; Olsen, Jesper V.; Zeberg, Hugo; Pruefer, Kay; Krause, Johannes; Meyer, Matthias; Welker, Frido; Mcpherron, Shannon P.; Schueler, Tim; Hublin, Jean-Jacques
• 署名单位: Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Universite PSL; College de France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - National Institute for Biology (INSB); Max Planck Society; University of Erlangen Nuremberg; Francis Crick Institute; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; California State University System; California State University Northridge; University of Kent; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - Institute of Ecology & Environment (INEE); Universite de Bordeaux; Universidad de la Laguna; University of Copenhagen; Lanzhou University; University of Copenhagen; Autonomous University of Barcelona; Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen; University of Vienna; Leuphana University Luneburg; Leipzig University; University of Bologna; Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; ETH Zurich; Karolinska Institutet
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-5397
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7
• 发表日期: 2024-02-08
• 关键词: upper paleolithic transition; species identification; kent cavern; sequence; palaeodietary; environment; alignment; context; micadas; maxilla

摘要

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe is associated with the regional disappearance of Neanderthals and the spread of Homo sapiens. Late Neanderthals persisted in western Europe several millennia after the occurrence of H. sapiens in eastern Europe1. Local hybridization between the two groups occurred2, but not on all occasions3. Archaeological evidence also indicates the presence of several technocomplexes during this transition, complicating our understanding and the association of behavioural adaptations with specific hominin groups4. One such technocomplex for which the makers are unknown is the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ), which has been described in northwestern and central Europe5-8. Here we present the morphological and proteomic taxonomic identification, mitochondrial DNA analysis and direct radiocarbon dating of human remains directly associated with an LRJ assemblage at the site Ilsenhohle in Ranis (Germany). These human remains are among the earliest directly dated Upper Palaeolithic H. sapiens remains in Eurasia. We show that early H. sapiens associated with the LRJ were present in central and northwestern Europe long before the extinction of late Neanderthals in southwestern Europe. Our results strengthen the notion of a patchwork of distinct human populations and technocomplexes present in Europe during this transitional period.