Homo sapiens reached the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago

This paper presents the morphological and proteomic identification, mitochondrial DNA analysis, and direct radiocarbon dating of human remains found at the Ilsenhöhle site in Ranis, Germany. These remains, associated with a Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) assemblage, are among the earliest directly dated Upper Palaeolithic *Homo sapiens* remains in Eurasia. The findings suggest that early *H. sapiens* were present in central and northwestern Europe long before the extinction of late Neanderthals in southwestern Europe, highlighting a complex mosaic of human populations and technocomplexes during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition.

Dorothea Mylopotamitaki, Marcel Weiss, Helen Fewlass, Elena Irene Zavala, Hélène Rougier, Arev Pelin Sümer, Mateja Hajdinjak, Geoff M. Smith, Karen Ruebens, Virginie Sinet-Mathiot, Sarah Pederzani, Elena Essel, Florian S. Harking, Huan Xia, Jakob Hansen, André Kirchner, Tobias Lauer, Mareike Stahlschmidt, Michael Hein, Sahra Talamo, Lukas Wacker, Harald Meller, Holger Dietl, Jörg Orschiedt, Jesper V. Olsen, Hugo Zeberg, Kay Prüfer, Johannes Krause, Matthias Meyer, Frido Welker, Shannon P. McPherron, Tim Schüler, Jean-Jacques Hublin