Krause Johannes, Orlando Ludovic, Serre David, Viola Bence, Prüfer Kay, Richards Michael P, Hublin Jean-Jacques, Hänni Catherine, Derevianko Anatoly P, Pääbo Svante
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Nature. 2007 Oct 18;449(7164):902-4. doi: 10.1038/nature06193. Epub 2007 Sep 30.
Morphological traits typical of Neanderthals began to appear in European hominids at least 400,000 years ago and about 150,000 years ago in western Asia. After their initial appearance, such traits increased in frequency and the extent to which they are expressed until they disappeared shortly after 30,000 years ago. However, because most fossil hominid remains are fragmentary, it can be difficult or impossible to determine unambiguously whether a fossil is of Neanderthal origin. This limits the ability to determine when and where Neanderthals lived. To determine how far to the east Neanderthals ranged, we determined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from hominid remains found in Uzbekistan and in the Altai region of southern Siberia. Here we show that the DNA sequences from these fossils fall within the European Neanderthal mtDNA variation. Thus, the geographic range of Neanderthals is likely to have extended at least 2,000 km further to the east than commonly assumed.
典型的尼安德特人形态特征至少在40万年前开始出现在欧洲原始人类中,约15万年前出现在西亚。这些特征首次出现后,其频率和表现程度不断增加,直到3万年前不久消失。然而,由于大多数原始人类化石残骸都是破碎的,很难甚至不可能明确确定一块化石是否源自尼安德特人。这限制了确定尼安德特人生活时间和地点的能力。为了确定尼安德特人的活动东至何处,我们测定了在乌兹别克斯坦和西伯利亚南部阿尔泰山地区发现的原始人类残骸的线粒体DNA(mtDNA)序列。我们在此表明,这些化石的DNA序列属于欧洲尼安德特人的mtDNA变异范围。因此,尼安德特人的地理分布范围可能比通常认为的向东至少延伸了2000公里。