A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Miron Cave, Spain.

ABSTRACT: Caves are primary sites for studying human and animal subsistence patterns and genetic ancestry throughout the Palaeolithic. Iberia served as a critical human and animal refugium in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 26.5 to 19 thousand years before the present (cal kya). Therefore, it is a key location for understanding human and animal population dynamics during this event. We recover and analyse sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) data from the lower archaeological stratigraphic sequence of El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain), encompassing the (1) Late Mousterian period, associated with Neanderthals, and (2) the Gravettian (c. 31.5 cal kya), Solutrean (c. 24.5-22 cal kya), and Initial Magdalenian (d. 21-20.5 cal kya) periods, associated with anatomically modern humans. We identify

SUBMITTER: Gelabert P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11696082 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature