A Late Pleistocene human tooth from Khutul Usny Cave (FV 8), Mongolia – New evidence for early occupation of Eastern Central Asia by Homo sapiens

Due to the extreme climatic and environmental conditions unfavorable to survival, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is considered to be a time of depopulation in most of Mongolian territory. Archaeological evidence of human presence around the LGM period is scarce, and human fossils are absent. Here, we present a newly discovered human tooth from the Khutul Usny Cave - site FV 8, in the Gobi Altai region of Mongolia, indirectly dated to ∼31-28 ka cal BP. It is a permanent maxillary right lateral incisor most likely belonging to a Homo sapiens individual. Besides the skullcap from Salkhit, this tooth is the second fossil of an early Homo sapiens in Mongolia and the first with secure archaeological and geological context. The thick stratigraphical sequence and its archaeological materials excavated in Khutul Usny Cave is crucial new evidence for human presence and exploitation of natural resources on the margins of the Gobi Desert and the Altai Mountains around the onset of the LGM. • A Homo sapiens lateral incisor from Khutul Usny Cave (Mongolia) provides rare fossil evidence for the Upper Palaeolithic in the region. • It represents the first H. sapiens fossil from Mongolia in a secure archaeological context. • Bayesian modelling dates the specimen to ∼31–28 ka cal BP. • Morphology confirms attribution to H. sapiens , excluding Neanderthal/Denisovan affinities. • The find indicates human presence in Southern Mongolia during MIS 3–2, near the onset of the LGM.