Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture

Modern humans arrived in Europe more than 45,000 years ago, overlapping at least 5,000 years with Neanderthals<sup>1-4</sup>. Limited genomic data from these early modern humans have shown that at least two genetically distinct groups inhabited Europe, represented by Zlatý kůň, Czechia<sup>3</sup> and Bacho Kiro, Bulgaria<sup>2</sup>. Here we deepen our understanding of early modern humans by analysing one high-coverage genome and five low-coverage genomes from approximately 45,000-year-old remains from Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany<sup>4</sup>, and a further high-coverage genome from Zlatý kůň. We show that distant familial relationships link the Ranis and Zlatý kůň individuals and that they were part of the same small, isolated population that represents the deepest known split from the Out-of-Africa lineage. Ranis genomes harbour Neanderthal segments that originate from a single admixture event shared with all non-Africans that we date to approximately 45,000-49,000 years ago. This implies that ancestors of all non-Africans sequenced so far resided in a common population at this time, and further suggests that modern human remains older than 50,000 years from outside Africa represent different non-African populations.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Nature
Published
2024-12-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08420-x
Citations
37
Primary Topic
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
137.61
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture

Yilei Huang, Mateja Hajdinjak, Hélène Rougier, Matthias Meyer et al.
37 citations
Nature
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
137.61
article

Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture

Yilei Huang, Mateja Hajdinjak, Hélène Rougier, Matthias Meyer, Frido Welker, Kay Prüfer, Harald Ringbauer, Cosimo Posth, Federica Pierini, Marcel Weiß, Kirsten I. Bos, Jörg Orschiedt, Elena I. Zavala, Cesare de Filippo, Stéphane Peyrégne, Geoffrey M. Smith, Arev Pelin Sümer, Vanessa Villalba‐Mouco, Harald Meller, Jean‐Jacques Hublin, Elena Essel, Hugo Zeberg, Tim Schüler, Fabrizio Mafessoni, Dorothea Mylopotamitaki, Petr Velemínský, Helen Fewlass, Shannon Patrick McPherron, Raffaela A. Bianco, Karen Ruebens, Alba Bossoms Mesa, Alexander Stoessel, Virginie Sinet‐Mathiot, Leonardo Nicola Martin Iasi, Adam B. Rohrlach, Benjamin M. Peter, Janet Kelso, Julia Zorn, Jaroslav Brůžek, Anna Patova, Johannes Krause, Anna Schmidt, Holger Dietl, Birgit Nickel, Anja Furtwaengler
article en
37 citations

Abstract

Modern humans arrived in Europe more than 45,000 years ago, overlapping at least 5,000 years with Neanderthals<sup>1-4</sup>. Limited genomic data from these early modern humans have shown that at least two genetically distinct groups inhabited Europe, represented by Zlatý kůň, Czechia<sup>3</sup> and Bacho Kiro, Bulgaria<sup>2</sup>. Here we deepen our understanding of early modern humans by analysing one high-coverage genome and five low-coverage genomes from approximately 45,000-year-old remains from Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany<sup>4</sup>, and a further high-coverage genome from Zlatý kůň. We show that distant familial relationships link the Ranis and Zlatý kůň individuals and that they were part of the same small, isolated population that represents the deepest known split from the Out-of-Africa lineage. Ranis genomes harbour Neanderthal segments that originate from a single admixture event shared with all non-Africans that we date to approximately 45,000-49,000 years ago. This implies that ancestors of all non-Africans sequenced so far resided in a common population at this time, and further suggests that modern human remains older than 50,000 years from outside Africa represent different non-African populations.

NatureVol. 638(8051)
University of Copenhagen (DK), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Université de Bordeaux (FR), Inserm (FR), California State University, Northridge (US), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (DE), Collège de France (FR), Charles University (CZ), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), National Museum (CZ), The Francis Crick Institute (GB), Karolinska Institutet (SE), University of Bristol (GB), Ministère de la Culture (FR), Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt (DE), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE), Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen (DE), Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (ES), Chimie et Biologie des Membranes et des Nanoobjects (FR), Ministère de la Culture (DZ), Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux (FR), University of Rochester (US), Weizmann Institute of Science (IL), The University of Adelaide (AU), University of Reading (GB), Freie Universität Berlin (DE), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE), University of Tübingen (DE), Leipzig University (DE), University of California, Berkeley (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
137.61
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.