Ancient DNA and multimethod dating confirm the late arrival of anatomically modern humans in southern China

Abstract

year before present, i.e., before AD1950) Ust’-Ishim femur (western Siberia, Russian Federation) and the 42,000 to 39,000 cal B.P. Tianyuan skeleton (Northeast China) (13–15). Finally, the upper age boundary for this dispersal is set by interbreeding between early AMHs and the Neanderthals estimated to have occurred ca. 65 to 47 ka and the ancestors of New Guineans with the Denisovans ca. 46 ka and again ca. 30 ka (13, 16–19). In contrast, some paleoanthropologists have suggested that AMHs settled mainland East Asia much earlier, within the period of ca. 120 to 70 ka, in accordance with the “early dispersal” theory. This model is based largely upon the dating of isolated human teeth recovered at Huanglong, Luna, and Fuyan caves and a partial mandible from Zhirendong in southern China (20–24). Yet several researchers have raised questions about Significance Genetic studies show the founders of all living non-African populations expanded from Africa ca. 65 to 45 ka. This “late dispersal” model has been challenged by the discovery of isolated AMHs at caves in southern China suggested as early as ca. 120 ka. We assessed the age of early AMH fossils from five caves in this region using ancient DNA analysis and a multimethod geological dating strategy. We found they were much younger than previously suggested, with some remains dating to the Holocene owing to the complex depositional history at these subtropical caves. Current evidence shows AMHs settled southern China within the timeframe set by molecular data of less than ca. 50 to 45 ka and no earlier.