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Introgression, hominin dispersal and megafaunal survival in Late Pleistocene Island Southeast Asia

Teixeira, J. C.; Jacobs, G. S.; Stringer, C.; Tuke, J.; Hudjashov, G.; Purnomo, G. A.; Sudoyo, H.; Cox, M. P.; Tobler, R.; Turney, C. S.; Cooper, A.; Helgen, K. M.

2020-07-24 evolutionary biology
10.1101/2020.07.24.219048 bioRxiv
Show abstract

The hominin fossil record of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) indicates that at least two endemic super-archaic species - Homo luzonensis and H. floresiensis - were present around the time anatomically modern humans (AMH) arrived in the region >50,000 years ago. Contemporary human populations carry signals consistent with interbreeding events with Denisovans in ISEA - a species that is thought to be more closely related to AMH than the super-archaic endemic ISEA hominins. To query this disparity between fossil and genetic evidence, we performed a comprehensive search for super-archaic introgression in >400 modern human genomes. Our results corroborate widespread Denisovan ancestry in ISEA populations but fail to detect any super-archaic admixture signals. By highlighting local megafaunal survival east of the Wallace Line as a potential signature of deep, pre-H. sapiens hominin-faunal interaction, we propose that this understudied region may hold the key to unlocking significant chapters in Denisovan prehistory.

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