| Description: |
A human mandibular fragment, Kozja 1, was excavated in 2020 from the Upper Pleistocene deposits of Kozja Cave, located near Majdanpek in eastern Serbia. The specimen exhibits overall modern human morphology, yet interestingly displays certain features more commonly associated with Neandertals (e.g. horizontal-oval mandibular foramen). It represents a robust adult individual. Kozja 1 was recovered from layer 2a2, in association with Middle Paleolithic artifacts, within a context disturbed by cave bear activity. Radiocarbon dating revealed an age of 32,080–31,550 cal BP at 95% probability, suggesting an association with the Gravettian culture, remains of which were found in layer 1c3, as well as in the adjacent Mala Cave. Before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), two genetically distinct groups associated with Gravettian occupied Europe between 33,000 and 26,000 years before present [1]. One of these groups include eastern and southern European sites in modern-day Czechia, Austria and Italy and was named “Vestonice cluster” after the Dolní Věstonice site [1,2]. The second is the “Fournol cluster”, and consists of western European sites in present-day France and Spain [1]. Eastern Gravettian ancestry represented by the Vestonice cluster was previously not found in the post-LGM populations [1]. By analyzing ancient DNA from the Kozja 1 specimen, we assigned it to a male individual who carried mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U5, which is highly common in Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and already observed in Gravettian-associated individuals [1]. The Y-chromosome haplogroup of Kozja 1 is C1a2, also found in other individuals associated with the Vestonice cluster. At the autosomal level, Kozja 1 grouped with other eastern Gravettian individuals, while having the highest genetic similarity with Vestonice 43. Together, these two individuals represent a genetic subcluster distinct from the main group in Dolní Věstonice, which includes Vestonice 162, Vestonice 132, DV14 (DLV005)1,2, DV15 (DLV006) [1,2], as ... |