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

Biomedical Sciences

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

33 Scopus citations

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 (US)
Article number	2557
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	13
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z
State	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The team dedicates this work to Mr Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy. We thank the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR for encouraging and supporting our work, marking almost 20 years of collaboration. We thank the authorities of Xon district, Hua Pan Province and the villagers of Long Gua Pa village for their continuous support of our numerous years of fieldwork. We also thank many curators and colleagues who granted access to the comparative fossil and recent hominin specimens for scanning, as well as the online sharing platforms of the Nespos society ( http://www.nespos.org ) and ESRF Paleontological database ( http://paleo.esrf.eu ). We acknowledge A. Mazurier and R. Macchiarelli (University of Poitiers), A. Bravin, C. Nemoz and P. Tafforeau (ESRF Synchrotron), P. Bayle and F. Santos (University of Bordeaux), O. Kullmer and F. Schrenk (Senckenberg Museum), F. Bernardini and C. Tuniz (ICTP Trieste), J. Braga and J. Dumoncel (University of Toulouse) for analytical support, microtomographic scanning and sharing of material. We gratefully acknowledge support from the CNRS/IN2P3 Computing Center (Lyon - France) for providing computing and data-processing resources needed for this work. Our thanks also go to Christine Lefèvre, Joséphine Lesur and Aurélie Verguin (Laboratoire Mammifères et Oiseaux, Anatomie comparée, MNHN, Paris) for access to comparative mammalian collections. Warm thanks to Jeremy Kazan (Taxidermie, MNHN, Paris) for having, as usual, wonderfully casted and reproduced the specimen. M.W.M. thanks George Morgan and Mark Keene at Adelaide Petrographics for expertly making the micromorphology thin sections. This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship award (FT180100309) (M.W.M.), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP170101597) (K.E.W.), and the Australian Research Council (ARC) LEF Grant (LE200100022) (R.J-B.), the Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (no. 795569) (F.W.). Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network (ETN) TEMPERA, a project funded by the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 722606) (E.C., J.V.O., P.R.), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (no. 948365) (F.W.), the VILLUM FONDEN (no. 17649) (E.C.). European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 819960) (M.M.S.), the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant number NNF14CC0001) (P.L.R.), the National Geographic Society (NGS-399R-18) (L.S.), the MNHN/Université Paris Diderot/Sorbonne Paris Cité, France (F.D.), the CNRS/Université de Paris, France; Université de Strasbourg, France (A.M.B.). Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (A.M.B.) and the Sodipram company (La Compagnie du Lit), France (F.D.).

Funding Information:
The team dedicates this work to Mr Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy. We thank the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR for encouraging and supporting our work, marking almost 20 years of collaboration. We thank the authorities of Xon district, Hua Pan Province and the villagers of Long Gua Pa village for their continuous support of our numerous years of fieldwork. We also thank many curators and colleagues who granted access to the comparative fossil and recent hominin specimens for scanning, as well as the online sharing platforms of the Nespos society (http://www.nespos.org) and ESRF Paleontological database (http://paleo.esrf.eu). We acknowledge A. Mazurier and R. Macchiarelli (University of Poitiers), A. Bravin, C. Nemoz and P. Tafforeau (ESRF Synchrotron), P. Bayle and F. Santos (University of Bordeaux), O. Kullmer and F. Schrenk (Senckenberg Museum), F. Bernardini and C. Tuniz (ICTP Trieste), J. Braga and J. Dumoncel (University of Toulouse) for analytical support, microtomographic scanning and sharing of material. We gratefully acknowledge support from the CNRS/IN2P3 Computing Center (Lyon - France) for providing computing and data-processing resources needed for this work. Our thanks also go to Christine Lefèvre, Joséphine Lesur and Aurélie Verguin (Laboratoire Mammifères et Oiseaux, Anatomie comparée, MNHN, Paris) for access to comparative mammalian collections. Warm thanks to Jeremy Kazan (Taxidermie, MNHN, Paris) for having, as usual, wonderfully casted and reproduced the specimen. M.W.M. thanks George Morgan and Mark Keene at Adelaide Petrographics for expertly making the micromorphology thin sections. This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship award (FT180100309) (M.W.M.), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP170101597) (K.E.W.), and the Australian Research Council (ARC) LEF Grant (LE200100022) (R.J-B.), the Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (no. 795569) (F.W.). Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network (ETN) TEMPERA, a project funded by the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 722606) (E.C., J.V.O., P.R.), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (no. 948365) (F.W.), the VILLUM FONDEN (no. 17649) (E.C.). European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 819960) (M.M.S.), the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant number NNF14CC0001) (P.L.R.), the National Geographic Society (NGS-399R-18) (L.S.), the MNHN/Université Paris Diderot/Sorbonne Paris Cité, France (F.D.), the CNRS/Université de Paris, France; Université de Strasbourg, France (A.M.B.). Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (A.M.B.) and the Sodipram company (La Compagnie du Lit), France (F.D.).

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© 2022, The Author(s).

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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), Article 2557. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

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, JL, Suzzoni, E, Frangeul, S, Boesch, Q, Antoine, PO, Pan, L, Xing, S, Zhao, JX, 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, AM, Hublin, JJ, Willerslev, E & Shackelford, L 2022, 'A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos', Nature communications, vol. 13, no. 1, 2557. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

@article{a6c7337d17c34bdfb33f2cd5a32e8fa0,

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 Ponche, {Jean Luc} and Eric Suzzoni and S{\'e}bastien Frangeul and Quentin Boesch and Antoine, {Pierre Olivier} and Lei Pan and Song Xing and Zhao, {Jian Xin} 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 Bacon, {Anne Marie} and Hublin, {Jean Jacques} and Eske Willerslev and Laura Shackelford",

note = "Funding Information: The team dedicates this work to Mr Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy. We thank the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR for encouraging and supporting our work, marking almost 20 years of collaboration. We thank the authorities of Xon district, Hua Pan Province and the villagers of Long Gua Pa village for their continuous support of our numerous years of fieldwork. We also thank many curators and colleagues who granted access to the comparative fossil and recent hominin specimens for scanning, as well as the online sharing platforms of the Nespos society ( http://www.nespos.org ) and ESRF Paleontological database ( http://paleo.esrf.eu ). We acknowledge A. Mazurier and R. Macchiarelli (University of Poitiers), A. Bravin, C. Nemoz and P. Tafforeau (ESRF Synchrotron), P. Bayle and F. Santos (University of Bordeaux), O. Kullmer and F. Schrenk (Senckenberg Museum), F. Bernardini and C. Tuniz (ICTP Trieste), J. Braga and J. Dumoncel (University of Toulouse) for analytical support, microtomographic scanning and sharing of material. We gratefully acknowledge support from the CNRS/IN2P3 Computing Center (Lyon - France) for providing computing and data-processing resources needed for this work. Our thanks also go to Christine Lef{\`e}vre, Jos{\'e}phine Lesur and Aur{\'e}lie Verguin (Laboratoire Mammif{\`e}res et Oiseaux, Anatomie compar{\'e}e, MNHN, Paris) for access to comparative mammalian collections. Warm thanks to Jeremy Kazan (Taxidermie, MNHN, Paris) for having, as usual, wonderfully casted and reproduced the specimen. M.W.M. thanks George Morgan and Mark Keene at Adelaide Petrographics for expertly making the micromorphology thin sections. This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship award (FT180100309) (M.W.M.), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP170101597) (K.E.W.), and the Australian Research Council (ARC) LEF Grant (LE200100022) (R.J-B.), the Marie Sk{\l}odowska Curie Individual Fellowship (no. 795569) (F.W.). Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie European Training Network (ETN) TEMPERA, a project funded by the European Union{\textquoteright}s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 722606) (E.C., J.V.O., P.R.), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (no. 948365) (F.W.), the VILLUM FONDEN (no. 17649) (E.C.). European Union{\textquoteright}s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 819960) (M.M.S.), the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant number NNF14CC0001) (P.L.R.), the National Geographic Society (NGS-399R-18) (L.S.), the MNHN/Universit{\'e} Paris Diderot/Sorbonne Paris Cit{\'e}, France (F.D.), the CNRS/Universit{\'e} de Paris, France; Universit{\'e} de Strasbourg, France (A.M.B.). Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (A.M.B.) and the Sodipram company (La Compagnie du Lit), France (F.D.). Funding Information: The team dedicates this work to Mr Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy. We thank the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR for encouraging and supporting our work, marking almost 20 years of collaboration. We thank the authorities of Xon district, Hua Pan Province and the villagers of Long Gua Pa village for their continuous support of our numerous years of fieldwork. We also thank many curators and colleagues who granted access to the comparative fossil and recent hominin specimens for scanning, as well as the online sharing platforms of the Nespos society (http://www.nespos.org) and ESRF Paleontological database (http://paleo.esrf.eu). We acknowledge A. Mazurier and R. Macchiarelli (University of Poitiers), A. Bravin, C. Nemoz and P. Tafforeau (ESRF Synchrotron), P. Bayle and F. Santos (University of Bordeaux), O. Kullmer and F. Schrenk (Senckenberg Museum), F. Bernardini and C. Tuniz (ICTP Trieste), J. Braga and J. Dumoncel (University of Toulouse) for analytical support, microtomographic scanning and sharing of material. We gratefully acknowledge support from the CNRS/IN2P3 Computing Center (Lyon - France) for providing computing and data-processing resources needed for this work. Our thanks also go to Christine Lef{\`e}vre, Jos{\'e}phine Lesur and Aur{\'e}lie Verguin (Laboratoire Mammif{\`e}res et Oiseaux, Anatomie compar{\'e}e, MNHN, Paris) for access to comparative mammalian collections. Warm thanks to Jeremy Kazan (Taxidermie, MNHN, Paris) for having, as usual, wonderfully casted and reproduced the specimen. M.W.M. thanks George Morgan and Mark Keene at Adelaide Petrographics for expertly making the micromorphology thin sections. This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship award (FT180100309) (M.W.M.), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP170101597) (K.E.W.), and the Australian Research Council (ARC) LEF Grant (LE200100022) (R.J-B.), the Marie Sk{\l}odowska Curie Individual Fellowship (no. 795569) (F.W.). Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie European Training Network (ETN) TEMPERA, a project funded by the European Union{\textquoteright}s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 722606) (E.C., J.V.O., P.R.), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (no. 948365) (F.W.), the VILLUM FONDEN (no. 17649) (E.C.). European Union{\textquoteright}s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 819960) (M.M.S.), the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant number NNF14CC0001) (P.L.R.), the National Geographic Society (NGS-399R-18) (L.S.), the MNHN/Universit{\'e} Paris Diderot/Sorbonne Paris Cit{\'e}, France (F.D.), the CNRS/Universit{\'e} de Paris, France; Universit{\'e} de Strasbourg, France (A.M.B.). Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (A.M.B.) and the Sodipram company (La Compagnie du Lit), France (F.D.). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

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

language = "English (US)",

volume = "13",

journal = "Nature communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Research",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos

AU - Demeter, Fabrice

AU - Zanolli, Clément

AU - Westaway, Kira E.

AU - Joannes-Boyau, Renaud

AU - Duringer, Philippe

AU - Morley, Mike W.

AU - Welker, Frido

AU - Rüther, Patrick L.

AU - Skinner, Matthew M.

AU - McColl, Hugh

AU - Gaunitz, Charleen

AU - Vinner, Lasse

AU - Dunn, Tyler E.

AU - Olsen, Jesper V.

AU - Sikora, Martin

AU - Ponche, Jean Luc

AU - Suzzoni, Eric

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 - Funding Information: The team dedicates this work to Mr Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy. We thank the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR for encouraging and supporting our work, marking almost 20 years of collaboration. We thank the authorities of Xon district, Hua Pan Province and the villagers of Long Gua Pa village for their continuous support of our numerous years of fieldwork. We also thank many curators and colleagues who granted access to the comparative fossil and recent hominin specimens for scanning, as well as the online sharing platforms of the Nespos society ( http://www.nespos.org ) and ESRF Paleontological database ( http://paleo.esrf.eu ). We acknowledge A. Mazurier and R. Macchiarelli (University of Poitiers), A. Bravin, C. Nemoz and P. Tafforeau (ESRF Synchrotron), P. Bayle and F. Santos (University of Bordeaux), O. Kullmer and F. Schrenk (Senckenberg Museum), F. Bernardini and C. Tuniz (ICTP Trieste), J. Braga and J. Dumoncel (University of Toulouse) for analytical support, microtomographic scanning and sharing of material. We gratefully acknowledge support from the CNRS/IN2P3 Computing Center (Lyon - France) for providing computing and data-processing resources needed for this work. Our thanks also go to Christine Lefèvre, Joséphine Lesur and Aurélie Verguin (Laboratoire Mammifères et Oiseaux, Anatomie comparée, MNHN, Paris) for access to comparative mammalian collections. Warm thanks to Jeremy Kazan (Taxidermie, MNHN, Paris) for having, as usual, wonderfully casted and reproduced the specimen. M.W.M. thanks George Morgan and Mark Keene at Adelaide Petrographics for expertly making the micromorphology thin sections. This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship award (FT180100309) (M.W.M.), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP170101597) (K.E.W.), and the Australian Research Council (ARC) LEF Grant (LE200100022) (R.J-B.), the Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (no. 795569) (F.W.). Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network (ETN) TEMPERA, a project funded by the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 722606) (E.C., J.V.O., P.R.), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (no. 948365) (F.W.), the VILLUM FONDEN (no. 17649) (E.C.). European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 819960) (M.M.S.), the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant number NNF14CC0001) (P.L.R.), the National Geographic Society (NGS-399R-18) (L.S.), the MNHN/Université Paris Diderot/Sorbonne Paris Cité, France (F.D.), the CNRS/Université de Paris, France; Université de Strasbourg, France (A.M.B.). Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (A.M.B.) and the Sodipram company (La Compagnie du Lit), France (F.D.). Funding Information: The team dedicates this work to Mr Thongsa Sayavongkhamdy. We thank the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR for encouraging and supporting our work, marking almost 20 years of collaboration. We thank the authorities of Xon district, Hua Pan Province and the villagers of Long Gua Pa village for their continuous support of our numerous years of fieldwork. We also thank many curators and colleagues who granted access to the comparative fossil and recent hominin specimens for scanning, as well as the online sharing platforms of the Nespos society (http://www.nespos.org) and ESRF Paleontological database (http://paleo.esrf.eu). We acknowledge A. Mazurier and R. Macchiarelli (University of Poitiers), A. Bravin, C. Nemoz and P. Tafforeau (ESRF Synchrotron), P. Bayle and F. Santos (University of Bordeaux), O. Kullmer and F. Schrenk (Senckenberg Museum), F. Bernardini and C. Tuniz (ICTP Trieste), J. Braga and J. Dumoncel (University of Toulouse) for analytical support, microtomographic scanning and sharing of material. We gratefully acknowledge support from the CNRS/IN2P3 Computing Center (Lyon - France) for providing computing and data-processing resources needed for this work. Our thanks also go to Christine Lefèvre, Joséphine Lesur and Aurélie Verguin (Laboratoire Mammifères et Oiseaux, Anatomie comparée, MNHN, Paris) for access to comparative mammalian collections. Warm thanks to Jeremy Kazan (Taxidermie, MNHN, Paris) for having, as usual, wonderfully casted and reproduced the specimen. M.W.M. thanks George Morgan and Mark Keene at Adelaide Petrographics for expertly making the micromorphology thin sections. This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship award (FT180100309) (M.W.M.), the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (DP170101597) (K.E.W.), and the Australian Research Council (ARC) LEF Grant (LE200100022) (R.J-B.), the Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (no. 795569) (F.W.). Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network (ETN) TEMPERA, a project funded by the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 722606) (E.C., J.V.O., P.R.), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (no. 948365) (F.W.), the VILLUM FONDEN (no. 17649) (E.C.). European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (no. 819960) (M.M.S.), the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant number NNF14CC0001) (P.L.R.), the National Geographic Society (NGS-399R-18) (L.S.), the MNHN/Université Paris Diderot/Sorbonne Paris Cité, France (F.D.), the CNRS/Université de Paris, France; Université de Strasbourg, France (A.M.B.). Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (A.M.B.) and the Sodipram company (La Compagnie du Lit), France (F.D.). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

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.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130174839&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85130174839&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z

M3 - Article

C2 - 35581187

AN - SCOPUS:85130174839

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 13

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

IS - 1

M1 - 2557

ER -

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

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