Timing of archaic hominin occupation of Denisova Cave in southern Siberia
Calendário da ocupação hominina arcaica da caverna Denisova no sul da Sibéria
Abstract
The
Altai region of Siberia was inhabited for parts of the Pleistocene by
at least two groups of archaic hominins—Denisovans and Neanderthals.
Denisova Cave, uniquely, contains stratified deposits that preserve
skeletal and genetic evidence of both hominins, artefacts made from
stone and other materials, and a range of animal and plant remains. The
previous site chronology is based largely on radiocarbon ages for
fragments of bone and charcoal that are up to 50,000 years old; older
ages of equivocal reliability have been estimated from
thermoluminescence and palaeomagnetic analyses of sediments, and genetic
analyses of hominin DNA. Here we describe the stratigraphic sequences
in Denisova Cave, establish a chronology for the Pleistocene deposits
and associated remains from optical dating of the cave sediments, and
reconstruct the environmental context of hominin occupation of the site
from around 300,000 to 20,000 years ago.
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