A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos

Fabrice Demeter; Clément Zanolli; Kira E. Westaway; Renaud Joannes-Boyau; Philippe Duringer; Mike W. Morley; Frido Welker; Patrick L. Rüther; Matthew M. Skinner; Hugh McColl; Charleen Gaunitz; Lasse Vinner; Tyler E. Dunn; Jesper V. Olsen; Martin Sikora; Jean-Luc Ponche; Eric Suzzoni; Sébastien Frangeul; Quentin Boesch; Pierre-Olivier Antoine; Lei Pan; Song Xing; Jian-Xin Zhao; Richard M. Bailey; Souliphane Boualaphane; Phonephanh Sichanthongtip; Daovee Sihanam; Elise Patole-Edoumba; Françoise Aubaile; Françoise Crozier; Nicolas Bourgon; Alexandra Zachwieja; Thonglith Luangkhoth; Viengkeo Souksavatdy; Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy; Enrico Cappellini; Anne-Marie Bacon; Jean-Jacques Hublin; Eske Willerslev; Laura Shackelford

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos

Fabrice Demeter^*, Clément Zanolli^*, Kira E. Westaway, Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Philippe Duringer, Mike W. Morley, Frido Welker, Patrick L. Rüther, Matthew M. Skinner, Hugh McColl, Charleen Gaunitz, Lasse Vinner, Tyler E. Dunn, Jesper V. Olsen, Martin Sikora, Jean-Luc Ponche, Eric Suzzoni, Sébastien Frangeul, Quentin Boesch, Pierre-Olivier AntoineLei Pan, Song Xing, Jian-Xin Zhao, Richard M. Bailey, Souliphane Boualaphane, Phonephanh Sichanthongtip, Daovee Sihanam, Elise Patole-Edoumba, Françoise Aubaile, Françoise Crozier, Nicolas Bourgon, Alexandra Zachwieja, Thonglith Luangkhoth, Viengkeo Souksavatdy, Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy, Enrico Cappellini, Anne-Marie Bacon, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Eske Willerslev, Laura Shackelford^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Natural Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

61 Citations (Scopus)

152 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The Pleistocene presence of the genus Homo in continental Southeast Asia is primarily evidenced by a sparse stone tool record and rare human remains. Here we report a Middle Pleistocene hominin specimen from Laos, with the discovery of a molar from the Tam Ngu Hao 2 (Cobra Cave) limestone cave in the Annamite Mountains. The age of the fossil-bearing breccia ranges between 164–131 kyr, based on the Bayesian modelling of luminescence dating of the sedimentary matrix from which it was recovered, U-series dating of an overlying flowstone, and U-series–ESR dating of associated faunal teeth. Analyses of the internal structure of the molar in tandem with palaeoproteomic analyses of the enamel indicate that the tooth derives from a young, likely female, Homo individual. The close morphological affinities with the Xiahe specimen from China indicate that they belong to the same taxon and that Tam Ngu Hao 2 most likely represents a Denisovan.

Original language	English
Article number	2557
Pages (from-to)	1-17
Number of pages	17
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	13
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z
Publication status	Published - 17 May 2022

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 3.35 MBLicence: CC BY

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Demeter, F., Zanolli, C., Westaway, K. E., Joannes-Boyau, R., Duringer, P., Morley, M. W., Welker, F., Rüther, P. L., Skinner, M. M., McColl, H., Gaunitz, C., Vinner, L., Dunn, T. E., Olsen, J. V., Sikora, M., Ponche, J.-L., Suzzoni, E., Frangeul, S., Boesch, Q., ... Shackelford, L. (2022). A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1-17. Article 2557. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

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title = "A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos",

abstract = "The Pleistocene presence of the genus Homo in continental Southeast Asia is primarily evidenced by a sparse stone tool record and rare human remains. Here we report a Middle Pleistocene hominin specimen from Laos, with the discovery of a molar from the Tam Ngu Hao 2 (Cobra Cave) limestone cave in the Annamite Mountains. The age of the fossil-bearing breccia ranges between 164–131 kyr, based on the Bayesian modelling of luminescence dating of the sedimentary matrix from which it was recovered, U-series dating of an overlying flowstone, and U-series–ESR dating of associated faunal teeth. Analyses of the internal structure of the molar in tandem with palaeoproteomic analyses of the enamel indicate that the tooth derives from a young, likely female, Homo individual. The close morphological affinities with the Xiahe specimen from China indicate that they belong to the same taxon and that Tam Ngu Hao 2 most likely represents a Denisovan.",

author = "Fabrice Demeter and Cl{\'e}ment Zanolli and Westaway, \{Kira E.\} and Renaud Joannes-Boyau and Philippe Duringer and Morley, \{Mike W.\} and Frido Welker and R{\"u}ther, \{Patrick L.\} and Skinner, \{Matthew M.\} and Hugh McColl and Charleen Gaunitz and Lasse Vinner and Dunn, \{Tyler E.\} and Olsen, \{Jesper V.\} and Martin Sikora and Jean-Luc Ponche and Eric Suzzoni and S{\'e}bastien Frangeul and Quentin Boesch and Pierre-Olivier Antoine and Lei Pan and Song Xing and Jian-Xin Zhao and Bailey, \{Richard M.\} and Souliphane Boualaphane and Phonephanh Sichanthongtip and Daovee Sihanam and Elise Patole-Edoumba and Fran{\c c}oise Aubaile and Fran{\c c}oise Crozier and Nicolas Bourgon and Alexandra Zachwieja and Thonglith Luangkhoth and Viengkeo Souksavatdy and Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy and Enrico Cappellini and Anne-Marie Bacon and Jean-Jacques Hublin and Eske Willerslev and Laura Shackelford",

note = "Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z",

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Demeter, F, Zanolli, C, Westaway, KE, Joannes-Boyau, R, Duringer, P, Morley, MW, Welker, F, Rüther, PL, Skinner, MM, McColl, H, Gaunitz, C, Vinner, L, Dunn, TE, Olsen, JV, Sikora, M, Ponche, J-L, Suzzoni, E, Frangeul, S, Boesch, Q, Antoine, P-O, Pan, L, Xing, S, Zhao, J-X, Bailey, RM, Boualaphane, S, Sichanthongtip, P, Sihanam, D, Patole-Edoumba, E, Aubaile, F, Crozier, F, Bourgon, N, Zachwieja, A, Luangkhoth, T, Souksavatdy, V, Sayavongkhamdy, T, Cappellini, E, Bacon, A-M, Hublin, J-J, Willerslev, E & Shackelford, L 2022, 'A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos', Nature Communications, vol. 13, no. 1, 2557, pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

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AU - Westaway, Kira E.

AU - Joannes-Boyau, Renaud

AU - Duringer, Philippe

AU - Morley, Mike W.

AU - Welker, Frido

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AU - Ponche, Jean-Luc

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AU - Frangeul, Sébastien

AU - Boesch, Quentin

AU - Antoine, Pierre-Olivier

AU - Pan, Lei

AU - Xing, Song

AU - Zhao, Jian-Xin

AU - Bailey, Richard M.

AU - Boualaphane, Souliphane

AU - Sichanthongtip, Phonephanh

AU - Sihanam, Daovee

AU - Patole-Edoumba, Elise

AU - Aubaile, Françoise

AU - Crozier, Françoise

AU - Bourgon, Nicolas

AU - Zachwieja, Alexandra

AU - Luangkhoth, Thonglith

AU - Souksavatdy, Viengkeo

AU - Sayavongkhamdy, Thongsa

AU - Cappellini, Enrico

AU - Bacon, Anne-Marie

AU - Hublin, Jean-Jacques

AU - Willerslev, Eske

AU - Shackelford, Laura

N1 - Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2022/5/17

Y1 - 2022/5/17

N2 - The Pleistocene presence of the genus Homo in continental Southeast Asia is primarily evidenced by a sparse stone tool record and rare human remains. Here we report a Middle Pleistocene hominin specimen from Laos, with the discovery of a molar from the Tam Ngu Hao 2 (Cobra Cave) limestone cave in the Annamite Mountains. The age of the fossil-bearing breccia ranges between 164–131 kyr, based on the Bayesian modelling of luminescence dating of the sedimentary matrix from which it was recovered, U-series dating of an overlying flowstone, and U-series–ESR dating of associated faunal teeth. Analyses of the internal structure of the molar in tandem with palaeoproteomic analyses of the enamel indicate that the tooth derives from a young, likely female, Homo individual. The close morphological affinities with the Xiahe specimen from China indicate that they belong to the same taxon and that Tam Ngu Hao 2 most likely represents a Denisovan.

AB - The Pleistocene presence of the genus Homo in continental Southeast Asia is primarily evidenced by a sparse stone tool record and rare human remains. Here we report a Middle Pleistocene hominin specimen from Laos, with the discovery of a molar from the Tam Ngu Hao 2 (Cobra Cave) limestone cave in the Annamite Mountains. The age of the fossil-bearing breccia ranges between 164–131 kyr, based on the Bayesian modelling of luminescence dating of the sedimentary matrix from which it was recovered, U-series dating of an overlying flowstone, and U-series–ESR dating of associated faunal teeth. Analyses of the internal structure of the molar in tandem with palaeoproteomic analyses of the enamel indicate that the tooth derives from a young, likely female, Homo individual. The close morphological affinities with the Xiahe specimen from China indicate that they belong to the same taxon and that Tam Ngu Hao 2 most likely represents a Denisovan.

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A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos

Abstract

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Unravelling the mystery of the mighty ape's last stand

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A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

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Unravelling the mystery of the mighty ape's last stand

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