Paleogenomics. Genomic structure in Europeans dating back at least 36,200 years.
The origin of contemporary Europeans remains contentious. We obtained a genome sequence from Kostenki 14 in European Russia dating from 38,700 to 36,200 years ago, one of the oldest fossils of anatomically modern humans from Europe. We find that Kostenki 14 shares a close ancestry with the 24,000-year-old Mal'ta boy from central Siberia, European Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, some contemporary western Siberians, and many Europeans, but not eastern Asians. Additionally, the Kostenki 14 genome shows evidence of shared ancestry with a population basal to all Eurasians that also relates to later European Neolithic farmers. We find that Kostenki 14 contains more Neandertal DNA that is contained in longer tracts than present Europeans. Our findings reveal the timing of divergence of western Eurasians and East Asians to be more than 36,200 years ago and that European genomic structure today dates back to the Upper Paleolithic and derives from a metapopulation that at times stretched from Europe to central Asia.
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Andaine
A
Seguin-Orlando
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Thorfinn S
TS
Korneliussen
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Martin
M
Sikora
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Anna-Sapfo
AS
Malaspinas
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK.
Andrea
A
Manica
Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, 920 East 58th Street, Cummings Life Science Center, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. The Bioinformatics Center, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes Vej 5, 2200 København N, Denmark.
Ida
I
Moltke
The Bioinformatics Center, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes Vej 5, 2200 København N, Denmark.
Anders
A
Albrechtsen
Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia.
Amy
A
Ko
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ashot
A
Margaryan
Department of Physical Anthropology, Kunstkamera, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 24 Srednii Prospect, Vassilievskii Island, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Vyacheslav
V
Moiseyev
Center for the Study of the First Americans and Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, TAMU-4352, College Station, Texas 77845-4352, USA.
Ted
T
Goebel
Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia.
Michael
M
Westaway
Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia.
David
D
Lambert
Department of Physical Anthropology, Kunstkamera, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 24 Srednii Prospect, Vassilievskii Island, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Valeri
V
Khartanovich
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Lobby 5, Suite 5700, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA.
Jeffrey D
JD
Wall
Division of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ, UK. Department of Human Evolution, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103, Germany.
Philip R
PR
Nigst
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, CB2 1QH, UK.
Robert A
RA
Foley
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, CB2 1QH, UK. ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu mbml1@cam.ac.uk.
Marta Mirazon
MM
Lahr
Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia. ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu mbml1@cam.ac.uk.
Rasmus
R
Nielsen
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ludovic
L
Orlando
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu mbml1@cam.ac.uk.
Eske
E
Willerslev
D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D005060:Europe; D005580:Fossils; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012800:Siberia; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history
D004247:DNA