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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01443-x
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-skull-Czechia-oldest-human-genome-found.html
Kay Prüfer, Cosimo Posth, He Yu, Alexander Stoessel, Maria A. Spyrou, Thibaut Deviese, Marco Mattonai, Erika Ribechini, Thomas Higham, Petr Velemínský, Jaroslav Brůžek & Johannes Krause
Abstract
Modern humans expanded into Eurasia more than 40,000 years ago following their dispersal out of Africa. These Eurasians carried ~2–3% Neanderthal ancestry in their genomes, originating from admixture with Neanderthals that took place sometime between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, probably in the Middle East. In Europe, the modern human expansion preceded the disappearance of Neanderthals from the fossil record by 3,000–5,000 years. The genetic makeup of the first Europeans who colonized the continent more than 40,000 years ago remains poorly understood since few specimens have been studied. Here, we analyse a genome generated from the skull of a female individual from Zlatý kůň, Czechia. We found that she belonged to a population that appears to have contributed genetically neither to later Europeans nor to Asians. Her genome carries ~3% Neanderthal ancestry, similar to those of other Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. However, the lengths of the Neanderthal segments are longer than those observed in the currently oldest modern human genome of the ~45,000-year-old Ust’-Ishim individual from Siberia, suggesting that this individual from Zlatý kůň is one of the earliest Eurasian inhabitants following the expansion out of Africa.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01443-x
The finding reinforces that humans mated with Neanderthals shortly after we first reached Europe between 50,000 and 45,000 years ago.
The DNA from this person and their population is not seen in modern-day people in either Asia or Europe, where Homo sapiens later colonised, the researchers found.
'It is quite intriguing that the earliest modern humans in Europe ultimately didn't succeed!' says Johannes Krause, senior author of the study and director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
This evidence, the academics say, means the Czechia individual is almost certainly older than other contenders with a claim as the earliest human fossil in Europe.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-skull-Czechia-oldest-human-genome-found.html