1. Human Identification Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK
2. Institute of Gerontology, Moscow 129226, Russia
3. Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
4. Institute of Archaeology, Moscow 117036, Russia
5. Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Moscow State University, Moscow 103009, Russia
6. Present address: Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032 USA

Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for material should be addressed to W.G. (e-mail: Email: w.goodwin@formed.gla.ac.uk).

The expansion of premodern humans into western and eastern Europe 40,000 years before the present led to the eventual replacement of the Neanderthals by modern humans 28,000 years ago¹. Here we report the second mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis of a Neanderthal, and the first such analysis on clearly dated Neanderthal remains. The specimen is from one of the eastern-most Neanderthal populations, recovered from Mezmaiskaya Cave in the northern Caucasus². Radiocarbon dating estimated the specimen to be 29,000 years old and therefore from one of the latest living Neanderthals³. The sequence shows 3.48% divergence from the Feldhofer Neanderthal⁴. Phylogenetic analysis places the two Neanderthals from the Caucasus and western Germany together in a clade that is distinct from modern humans, suggesting that their mtDNA types have not contributed to the modern human mtDNA pool. Comparison with modern populations provides no evidence for the multiregional hypothesis of modern human evolution.