Compound-specific radiocarbon dating and mitochondrial DNA analysis of the Pleistocene hominin from Salkhit Mongolia

Thibaut Devièse,Birgit Nickel,Sarah Nagel,Erika Ribechini,Jungeun Lee,Svante Pääbo,Tom Higham,Daniel Comeskey,Diyendo Massilani,Byambaa Gunchinsuren,Matthias Meyer,Seonbok Yi,Damdinsuren Tseveendorj

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-08018-8

Abstract

A skullcap found in the Salkhit Valley in northeast Mongolia is, to our knowledge, the only Pleistocene hominin fossil found in the country. It was initially described as an individual with possible archaic affinities, but its ancestry has been debated since the discovery. Here, we determine the age of the Salkhit skull by compound-specific radiocarbon dating of hydroxyproline to 34,950–33,900 Cal. BP (at 95% probability), placing the Salkhit individual in the Early Upper Paleolithic period. We reconstruct the complete mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) of the specimen. It falls within a group of modern human mtDNAs (haplogroup N) that is widespread in Eurasia today. The results now place the specimen into its proper chronometric and biological context and allow us to begin integrating it with other evidence for the human occupation of this region during the Paleolithic, as well as wider Pleistocene sequences across Eurasia.

Highlights

A skullcap found in the Salkhit Valley in northeast Mongolia is, to our knowledge, the only Pleistocene hominin fossil found in the country
Because of the dearth of hominin fossils recovered in Mongolia, the Salkhit skull represents a unique opportunity to investigate the types of humans that occupied the region during the Pleistocene
The morphological traits of the Salkhit skullcap have fueled the debate about the origins of the prehistoric humans of the region, where it is, to our knowledge, the only Pleistocene human fossil discovered

Summary

Introduction

A skullcap found in the Salkhit Valley in northeast Mongolia is, to our knowledge, the only Pleistocene hominin fossil found in the country. The skullcap analysed in this study was discovered in 2006 during mining operations in the Salkhit Valley of the Norovlin county in the Khentii province, eastern Mongolia (48°16′17.9′′ N and 112°21′37.9′′ E) It is, so far, the only Pleistocene human fossil found in the country. Additional comparisons with Middle and Late Pleistocene hominin fossils from northeast Asia (Zhoukoudian Locality 1, Dali, and Zhoukoudian Upper Cave) concluded that the peculiar features of the Salkhit skull are more likely to be regionally predominant modern human features than diagnostic features of an archaic species[9,10]. We present the results of both chronometric and genetic analyses of the Salkhit specimen This fossil dates to approximately 34–35 thousand years ago and its mitochondrial genome is of Eurasian modern human type

Methods

Results

Conclusion