Crimean fossil reveals Neandertal migrations reached deep into Asia

A fossil discovered on the Crimean Peninsula has provided the strongest genetic evidence yet that Neandertals traveled thousands of kilometers from Europe into central Asia.

Researchers identified a bone fragment from Crimea’s Starosele rock-shelter as belonging to a Neandertal and successfully extracted mitochondrial DNA — genetic material passed from mothers to their children. According to archaeologist Emily Pigott and her colleagues, that DNA closely matches sequences from Neandertal fossils found at three sites in the Altai region of Siberia, nearly 3,000 kilometers to the east, ScienceNews writes. 

Along with similarities in stone tool–making styles, the findings suggest that Eastern European Neandertal groups made extensive journeys across Eurasia, leaving both a genetic and cultural imprint. The research was published October 27 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Long-distance migrations by Neandertals facilitated contact and interbreeding with Homo sapiens and Denisovans in various parts of the world,” said Pigott, of the University of Vienna.

Protein analysis confirmed the Crimean fossil — likely part of an upper leg bone — as Neandertal. DNA comparisons revealed especially close ties to Neandertals from the Altai region, including one individual known to have had a Neandertal mother and a Denisovan father.

Radiocarbon dating places the Crimean fossil between 46,000 and 45,000 years old. The team suggests that Neandertal migrations from Europe to Siberia, and possibly into East Asia, likely occurred during warmer climatic periods — around 120,000 to 100,000 years ago and again beginning about 60,000 years ago.

Thousands of fossils from Starosele remain too fragmentary to identify by sight alone. Protein residue analysis of 150 fragments showed most belonged to horses, consistent with previous evidence that Neandertals at the site hunted wild horses for food.

By Sabina Mammadli