1. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
2. Paléogénétique et Évolution Moléculaire, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Institut Fédératif Biosciences Gerland Lyon Sud, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, INRA, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon, Cedex 07, France
3. McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Center, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A4, Canada
4. Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
5. Paleolithic Department, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch. Lavrentieva Prospekt, 17 Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia

Correspondence to: Svante Pääbo¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to S.P. (Email: paabo@eva.mpg.de).

Abstract

Morphological traits typical of Neanderthals began to appear in European hominids at least 400,000 years ago¹ and about 150,000 years ago² in western Asia. After their initial appearance, such traits increased in frequency and the extent to which they are expressed until they disappeared shortly after 30,000 years ago. However, because most fossil hominid remains are fragmentary, it can be difficult or impossible to determine unambiguously whether a fossil is of Neanderthal origin. This limits the ability to determine when and where Neanderthals lived. To determine how far to the east Neanderthals ranged, we determined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from hominid remains found in Uzbekistan and in the Altai region of southern Siberia. Here we show that the DNA sequences from these fossils fall within the European Neanderthal mtDNA variation. Thus, the geographic range of Neanderthals is likely to have extended at least 2,000 km further to the east than commonly assumed.

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