title: Palaeoproteomic evidence identifies archaic hominins associated with the Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne.
abstract: In Western Europe, the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition is associated with the disappearance of Neandertals and the spread of anatomically modern humans (AMHs). Current chronological, behavioral, and biological models of this transitional period hinge on the Châtelperronian technocomplex. At the site of the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, morphological Neandertal specimens are not directly dated but are contextually associated with the Châtelperronian, which contains bone points and beads. The association between Neandertals and this "transitional" assemblage has been controversial because of the lack either of a direct hominin radiocarbon date or of molecular confirmation of the Neandertal affiliation. Here we provide further evidence for a Neandertal-Châtelperronian association at the Grotte du Renne through biomolecular and chronological analysis. We identified 28 additional hominin specimens through zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) screening of morphologically uninformative bone specimens from Châtelperronian layers at the Grotte du Renne. Next, we obtain an ancient hominin bone proteome through liquid chromatography-MS/MS analysis and error-tolerant amino acid sequence analysis. Analysis of this palaeoproteome allows us to provide phylogenetic and physiological information on these ancient hominin specimens. We distinguish Late Pleistocene clades within the genus Homo based on ancient protein evidence through the identification of an archaic-derived amino acid sequence for the collagen type X, alpha-1 (COL10α1) protein. We support this by obtaining ancient mtDNA sequences, which indicate a Neandertal ancestry for these specimens. Direct accelerator mass spectometry radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling confirm that the hominin specimens date to the Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; BioArCh, University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom; frido_welker@eva.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Frido
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Welker
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Mateja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajdinjak
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Sahra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Talamo
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Klervia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jaouen
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dannemann
authors.affiliation: Paris Unité Mixte de Recherche 7041, Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 92023 Nanterre, France.
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: David
authors.affiliation: Paris Unité Mixte de Recherche 7041, Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 92023 Nanterre, France.
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Julien
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3618-322X
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kelso
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Selina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brace
authors.affiliation: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pepijn
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kamminga
authors.affiliation: Target Discovery Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Target Discovery Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Benedikt M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Dorset BH12 5BB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Svante
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pääbo
authors.affiliation: BioArCh, University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hublin
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D024121:Collagen Type X; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005602:France; D015186:Hominidae / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D010163:Paleontology; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D055110:Radiometric Dating; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D024121:Collagen Type X; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Châtelperronian; Neandertal; ZooMS; palaeoproteomics