Timing of archaic hominin occupation of Denisova Cave in southern Siberia

Abstract

The Altai region of Siberia was inhabited for parts of the Pleistocene by at least two archaic hominin groups-Denisovans and Neanderthals. Denisova Cave uniquely contains stratified deposits with the skeletal and genetic remains of both hominins, artefacts made from stone and other materials, and a range of animal and plant remains. The previous site chronology is based largely on radiocarbon ages for fragments of bone and charcoal up to 50,000 years old, with older ages of equivocal reliability estimated from thermoluminescence and palaeomagnetic analyses of sediments and genetic analyses of hominin DNA. Here we describe the stratigraphic sequences in Denisova Cave, establish a chronology for the Pleistocene deposits and associated remains from optical dating of the cave sediments, and reconstruct the environmental context to hominin occupation from around 300,000 to 20,000 years ago. The period of existence and geographical distribution of Neanderthals and their sister group, dubbed the Denisovans 1,2 , are key unresolved issues in the study of human evolution and dispersal. Denisovan remains are known only from the type locality of Denisova Cave, which is located in the foothills of the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia (51°23′51.3′′N, 84°40′34.3′′E; Fig. 1a). Neanderthal remains have also been recovered from the cave deposits.

Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years

“…They could feasibly be made by late Neanderthals or H. sapiens (Flas, 2011;Villa and Roebroeks, 2014;Hublin, 2015). In addition, the appearance in Siberia of early burincore and laminar reductions (typically seen as part of the H. sapiens toolkit) at~43 ka from sites such as Kara-Bom and Denisova Cave further confuses the record of hominin presence as the makers are again unknown, but could conceivably be H. sapiens, Neanderthal or Denisovan (Zwyns et al, 2012;Douka et al, 2019;Jacobs et al, 2019b).…”

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“…The historical exodus of mankind started almost 2 million years ago with the migration of Homo erectus from Africa through Eurasia. From this event on, relatively isolated human populations evolved separately on different continents, leading to the emergence of different human species, such as Neanderthals in Europe, the Denisovans in Asia, and, later, modern Homo sapiens in Africa [92,93]. H. sapiens first colonized large areas of the continent around 300 000 years ago [6], spread towards the Middle East at some point between 150 000 and 80 000 years ago, and migrated through Eurasia, reaching Australia within 20 000 years [94].…”

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“…The ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans left Africa circa 650 kybp and by 450 kybp they had separated into these two lineages. The recent discovery that both groups overlapped for approximately 96,000 years in the Denisova Cave, suggests the possibility that they could intercommunicate vocally 5,6 . Also, it is almost clear that Neanderthals produced what can be called "cognitive artifacts and products" (cave paintings, eagle talons from the site of Krapina, etc.)…”