Jacobs Zenobia, Zavala Elena I, Li Bo, O'Gorman Kieran, Shunkov Michael V, Kozlikin Maxim B, Derevianko Anatoly P, Uliyanov Vladimir A, Goldberg Paul, Agadjanian Alexander K, Vasiliev Sergei K, Brink Frank, Peyrégne Stéphane, Slon Viviane, Pääbo Svante, Kelso Janet, Meyer Matthias, Roberts Richard G
Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
Nat Commun. 2025 May 21;16(1):4738. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60140-6.
Denisova Cave in southern Siberia is the only site known to have been occupied by Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans. The cave consists of three chambers (Main, East and South), with the archaeological assemblages and remains of hominins, fauna and flora recovered from Main and East Chambers being the most thoroughly investigated to date. Here we report the results of analyses of the Palaeolithic artefacts, faunal remains and hominin and mammalian mitochondrial (mt) DNA recovered from renewed excavations in South Chamber. We construct a calendar-year time scale for the stratified Pleistocene deposits from optical dating of the sediments. The timing of hominin occupation and major turnovers in the mtDNA of Denisovans and large mammals largely accords with the patterns detected in Main and East Chambers. Time gaps in those sequences are partly filled by the South Chamber data and the sediment DNA record of Denisovans after 80,000 years ago is more than doubled in size. We combine the sediment dating and DNA records for all three chambers to reveal the whole-of-cave history of this unique site and the climatic conditions experienced by hominins and fauna over the past 300,000 years, including potential changes in habitat suitability for Denisovans and Neanderthals.
位于西伯利亚南部的丹尼索瓦洞穴是已知唯一曾被丹尼索瓦人、尼安德特人和现代人占据过的地点。该洞穴由三个洞室（主洞室、东洞室和南洞室）组成，从主洞室和东洞室发掘出的古人类、动物群和植物群的考古组合及遗骸是迄今为止研究最为深入的。在此，我们报告了对从南洞室重新发掘出的旧石器时代文物、动物遗骸以及古人类和哺乳动物线粒体（mt）DNA的分析结果。我们通过对沉积物进行光释光测年，为更新世分层沉积物构建了历年时间尺度。古人类居住的时间以及丹尼索瓦人和大型哺乳动物线粒体DNA的主要更替时间，在很大程度上与在主洞室和东洞室检测到的模式相符。这些序列中的时间间隔部分由南洞室的数据填补，并且8万年前之后丹尼索瓦人的沉积物DNA记录规模增加了一倍多。我们将所有三个洞室的沉积物测年和DNA记录相结合，以揭示这个独特地点的全洞历史，以及过去30万年中古人类和动物群所经历的气候条件，包括丹尼索瓦人和尼安德特人生境适宜性的潜在变化。
