Bones and teeth are important sources of Pleistocene hominin DNA, but are rarely recovered at archaeological sites. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been retrieved from cave sediments but provides limited value for studying population relationships. We therefore developed methods for the enrichment and analysis of nuclear DNA from sediments and applied them to cave deposits in western Europe and southern Siberia dated to between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago. We detected a population replacement in northern Spain about 100,000 years ago, which was accompanied by a turnover of mtDNA. We also identified two radiation events in Neanderthal history during the early part of the Late Pleistocene. Our work lays the ground for studying the population history of ancient hominins from trace amounts of nuclear DNA in sediments.

骨骼和牙齿是更新世人类 DNA 的重要来源，但很少在考古遗址中找到。已从洞穴沉积物中提取出线粒体 DNA (mtDNA)，但对研究种群关系的价值有限。因此，我们开发了从沉积物中富集和分析核 DNA 的方法，并将其应用于西欧和西伯利亚南部 200,000 至 50,000 年前的洞穴沉积物。我们在大约 100,000 年前在西班牙北部发现了人口更替，同时伴随着 mtDNA 的更替。我们还确定了晚更新世早期尼安德特人历史上的两次辐射事件。我们的工作为从沉积物中痕量核 DNA 研究古代人类的种群历史奠定了基础。