Ancient human DNA recovered from a Palaeolithic pendant

Sample collection For reagent testing, we collected ten unmodified faunal remains, similar in and size and shape to material used in artefact production, from the late Middle Palaeolithic and early Upper Palaeolithic deposits of the French sites Quinçay (seven) and Les Cottés (three) (Extended Data Table 1 and Extended Data Fig. 2). The estimated ages of these specimens range from 55 to 35 kyr21,37,38. Non-destructive DNA extraction was then applied to 15 osseous specimens excavated at Quinçay Cave, all from layers attributed to the Châtelperronian technocomplex and probably dating to 45–35 ka21,37, to three tooth pendants excavated in the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (45–43 ka)39 layers in the niche 1 area of Bacho Kiro Cave40,41, as well as on one tooth pendant excavated in 2019 in layer 11 (39–24 ka), square E-3, of the south chamber of Denisova Cave (Extended Data Table 1 and Extended Data Fig. 3). Samples from Bacho Kiro and Denisova Cave were excavated and handled using sterile gl ... Read full article.