The human bone was scanned using micro-CT imaging, which revealed it was likely to have come from a thigh bone. Subsequently, it was also radiocarbon dated using the most up-to-date decontamination methods, which placed the bone between 46,000 and 44,000 years ago, securely within the Palaeolithic period.
"This was an extremely exciting discovery, especially since previous human remains at Starosele were thought to be Homo sapiens from much later periods," said Pigott. "When the radiocarbon results came back, we knew we had found a truly Palaeolithic human. It was an unforgettable moment — and it happened to be only the 46th bone I analysed with ZooMS. Across Eurasia, very few human fossils are known from this crucial period when Neanderthals disappeared and Homo sapiens replaced them, and still fewer with genetic Information".
A glimpse into Neanderthal mobility
The discovery highlights the mobility and resilience of Neanderthals, revealing that these ancient humans were more widespread in their dispersal than often previously assumed.
Co-authors Konstantina Cheshmedzhieva and Martin Kuhlwilm of the University of Vienna led the genetic analysis on the new human remains, finding that the human bone belonged to a Neanderthal, which the team named "Star 1". Surprisingly, this individual was most closely related to Neanderthals from Siberia's Altai region, more than 3,000 kilometers to the east, but also with Neanderthals that once lived in regions of Europe such as Croatia. The findings confirm previous studies suggesting that Neanderthals once dispersed over vast distances across Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene, from as far west as central Europe to central Eurasia. This work places the Crimean Peninsula at the crossroads of this Neanderthal migration corridor.
Through climate and human habitat modelling, Elke Zeller (University of Arizona, US) and Axel Timmermann (Pusan National University, South Korea) identified two favourable climatic periods (120,000 and 60,000 years ago) during which Neanderthals may have moved between Crimea, central Asia, and Europe, perhaps following migrating herds of animals.
"Our work demonstrates that by combining techniques such as ZooMS, radiocarbon dating, and ancient DNA analysis, even the smallest bone fragments can yield profound information about our evolutionary past", senior author Tom Higham from the University of Vienna summarizes. "This type of multianalytical work applied to other collections will help us uncover more hidden human remains, and bring us closer to understanding the complex story of human evolution across Eurasia. Our understanding of Neanderthals has changed so much over the last few years. Our new study confirms that they were capable of moving long distances in various directions, something we thought for many decades was restricted almost exclusively to our species."
Summary:
- When examining more than 150 unidentified bone fragments from the Crimean peninsula rockshelter of Starosele one small 5 cm fragment was identified as a small piece of a Neanderthal bone – named "Star 1" by the team.
- The fragment was scanned using micro-CT imaging, which revealed it was likely to have come from a human thigh bone. It was also radiocarbon dated using the most up-to-date decontamination methods, which placed the bone between 46,000 and 44,000 years ago, securely within the Palaeolithic period.
- Further investigations showed, the individual was most closely related to Neanderthals from Siberia's Altai region, more than 3,000 kilometers to the east, but also with Neanderthals that once lived in regions of Europe such as Croatia.
- The findings suggest that Neanderthals must have once dispersed over vast distances across Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene; from as far west as central Europe, all the way to central Eurasia, with Crimea being at the crossroads of this pathway.
- Through climate modelling the scientists identified when humans were most likely to move, taking advantage of favourable climates. They found the so-called 'last interglacial period' around 120,000 years ago was one of these periods, and another around 60,000 years ago.
About the study:
The scientists used Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to identify different species among the fragmented bones. The fragment identified as human was scanned using micro-CT imaging, was radiocarbon dated and genetically analysed, revealing it belonged to a late Neanderthal. Climate modelling identified key periods when humans were most likely taking advantage of favourable climates along which they could move.
About the University of Vienna:
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Original publication:
Emily Pigott, Konstantina Cheshmedzhieva, Elke Zeller, Laura G. van der Sluis, Manasij Pal Chowdhury, Maddalena Gianni, Emese Végh, Thorsten Uthmeier, Victor Chabai, Marylène Patou-Mathis, Petra G. Šimková, Jana N. Voglmayr, Gerhard W. Weber, Ron Pinhasi, Axel Timmermann, Martin Kuhlwilm, Katerina Douka and Thomas Higham: A new late Neanderthal from Crimea reveals long-distance connections across Eurasia. 2025. In PNAS.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2518974122
Pictures:
Fig. 1: Emily. M. Pigott and Maddalena Gianni undergoing radiocarbon pre-treatment method in the Higham Lab at the University of Vienna. C: Prof. Tom Higham.
Fig. 2: Photograph of Star 1 before the human bone was CT scanned, radiocarbon dated and underwent ancient DNA extraction. C: Emily. M. Pigott
Fig. 3: Starosele rock-shelter, the view from the north which is located on the right side. C: Dr. Serhii Telizhenko.
Fig. 4: A bag of fragmented bones from Starosele, before they were taken to the lab for ZooMS analysis. C: Emily. M. Pigott
Funding
This research was funded by the European Union (ERC grant number 101142352 "DISPERSE" awarded to TH). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) [10.47379/VRG20001] supported Prof. Kuhlwilm, along with the Life Science Compute Cluster (LiSC) of the University of Vienna. The IBS Center for Climate Physics grant IBS-R028-D1 supported Prof. Timmermann.
The Vienna authors are supported by and part of the HEAS Forschungsverbund (Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences), of which Prof. Higham is the Director.
Higham Lab.
