A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain
- Author(s)
- Pere Gelabert, Victoria Oberreiter, Lawrence Guy Straus, Manuel Ramón González Morales, Susanna Sawyer, Ana B Marín-Arroyo, Jeanne Marie Geiling, Florian Exler, Florian Brueck, Stefan Franz, Fernanda Tenorio Cano, Sophie Szedlacsek, Evelyn Zelger, Michelle Hämmerle, Brina Zagorc, Alejandro Llanos-Lizcano, Olivia Cheronet, José-Miguel Tejero, Thomas Rattei, Stephan M Kraemer, Ron Pinhasi
- Abstract
Caves are primary sites for studying human and animal subsistence patterns and genetic ancestry throughout the Palaeolithic. Iberia served as a critical human and animal refugium in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 26.5 to 19 thousand years before the present (cal kya). Therefore, it is a key location for understanding human and animal population dynamics during this event. We recover and analyse sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) data from the lower archaeological stratigraphic sequence of El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain), encompassing the (1) Late Mousterian period, associated with Neanderthals, and (2) the Gravettian (c. 31.5 cal kya), Solutrean (c. 24.5-22 cal kya), and Initial Magdalenian (d. 21-20.5 cal kya) periods, associated with anatomically modern humans. We identify 28 animal taxa including humans. Fifteen of these taxa had not been identified from the archaeozoological (i.e., faunal) record, including the presence of hyenas in the Magdalenian. Additionally, we provide phylogenetic analyses on 70 sedaDNA mtDNA genomes of fauna including the densest Iberian Pleistocene sampling of C. lupus. Finally, we recover three human mtDNA sequences from the Solutrean levels. These sequences, along with published data, suggest mtDNA haplogroup continuity in Iberia throughout the Solutrean/Last Glacial Maximum period.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Economics, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Research Network Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Department of Theoretical Chemistry
- External organisation(s)
- University of New Mexico, Universidad de Cantabria, Universidad del Atlántico, Universitat de Barcelona
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Volume
- 16
- Pages
- 107
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55740-7
- Publication date
- 01-2025
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106018 Human biology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry, General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology, General Physics and Astronomy
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/04048b56-8956-42e4-84b7-9db4d2f82ea5