{
  "citation": "Specimen Registry v0.0.7 (2026). Maintained by Michael Gonzalez with AI assistance. https://specimenregistry.org. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0.",
  "license": "https://specimenregistry.org/license",
  "version": "0.0.12-neon",
  "publication": {
    "id": "10.1038/nature17405",
    "title": "Nuclear DNA sequences from the Middle Pleistocene Sima de los Huesos hominins",
    "authors": [
      "Meyer, M.",
      "Arsuaga, J.-L.",
      "de Filippo, C.",
      "Nagel, S.",
      "Aximu-Petri, A.",
      "Nickel, B.",
      "Martínez, I.",
      "Gracia, A.",
      "Bermúdez de Castro, J.M.",
      "Carbonell, E.",
      "Viola, B.",
      "Kelso, J.",
      "Prüfer, K.",
      "Pääbo, S."
    ],
    "year": 2016,
    "journal": "Nature",
    "volume": "531",
    "issue": "7595",
    "pages": "504-507",
    "publication_date": "2016-03-24T00:00:00.000Z",
    "open_access_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17405",
    "pmc_id": null,
    "pubmed_id": null,
    "abstract": "A unique assemblage of 28 hominin individuals, found in Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca in Spain, has recently been dated to approximately 430,000 years ago. An interesting question is how these Middle Pleistocene hominins were related to those who lived in the Late Pleistocene epoch, in particular to Neanderthals in western Eurasia and to Denisovans, a sister group of Neanderthals so far known only from southern Siberia. While the Sima de los Huesos hominins share some derived morphological features with Neanderthals, the mitochondrial genome retrieved from one individual from Sima de los Huesos is more closely related to the mitochondrial DNA of Denisovans than to that of Neanderthals. However, since the mitochondrial DNA does not reveal the full picture of relationships among populations, we have investigated DNA preservation in several individuals found at Sima de los Huesos. Here we recover nuclear DNA sequences from two specimens, which show that the Sima de los Huesos hominins were related to Neanderthals rather than to Denisovans, indicating that the population divergence between Neanderthals and Denisovans predates 430,000 years ago. A mitochondrial DNA recovered from one of the specimens shares the previously described relationship to Denisovan mitochondrial DNAs, suggesting, among other possibilities, that the mitochondrial DNA gene pool of Neanderthals turned over later in their history.",
    "crossref_verified_at": null,
    "verification_state": "draft",
    "verification_notes": "Migrated from ingest file: T2.1_Meyer_2016_Sima.md",
    "fts_tsv": "'000':40B,192B '28':17B '430':39B,191B 'ago':42B,194B 'among':139B,214B 'approxim':38B 'arsuaga':233C 'assemblag':15B 'atapuerca':30B 'aximu':242C 'aximu-petri':241C 'b':246C,258C 'bermúdez':251C 'c':238C 'carbonel':255C 'castro':253C 'close':113B 'date':36B 'de':9A,23B,29B,88B,108B,152B,169B,236C,252C 'denisovan':72B,120B,180B,189B,210B 'deriv':94B 'describ':207B 'diverg':185B 'dna':2A,118B,130B,144B,159B,197B,220B 'dnas':212B 'e':256C 'epoch':62B 'eurasia':69B 'far':79B 'featur':96B 'filippo':237C 'found':20B,149B 'full':135B 'gene':221B 'genom':101B 'gracia':249C 'group':75B 'histori':230B 'hominin':12A,18B,51B,91B,172B 'howev':126B 'hueso':11A,25B,90B,110B,154B,171B 'indic':181B 'individu':19B,105B,148B 'interest':44B 'investig':143B 'j':234C,260C 'j.m':254C 'k':262C 'kelso':259C 'known':80B 'l':235C 'late':60B 'later':227B 'live':57B 'los':10A,24B,89B,109B,153B,170B 'm':232C 'martínez':247C 'meyer':231C 'middl':6A,49B 'mitochondri':100B,117B,129B,196B,211B,219B 'morpholog':95B 'nagel':239C 'neanderth':66B,77B,98B,125B,176B,187B,224B 'nickel':245C 'nuclear':1A,158B 'one':104B,200B 'particular':64B 'petri':243C 'pictur':136B 'pleistocen':7A,50B,61B 'pool':222B 'popul':140B,184B 'possibl':216B 'predat':190B 'preserv':145B 'previous':206B 'prüfer':261C 'pääbo':263C 'question':45B 'rather':177B 'recent':34B 'recov':157B,198B 'relat':53B,114B,174B 'relationship':138B,208B 'retriev':102B 'reveal':133B 'sequenc':3A,160B 'sever':147B 'share':92B,204B 'show':165B 'siberia':84B 'sierra':28B 'sima':8A,22B,87B,107B,151B,168B 'sinc':127B 'sister':74B 'southern':83B 'spain':32B 'specimen':163B,203B 'suggest':213B 'turn':225B 'two':162B 'uniqu':14B 'viola':257C 'western':68B 'year':41B,193B",
    "created_at": "2026-07-26T18:17:01.609Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-07-27T02:16:42.538Z",
    "study_type": null
  },
  "specimens": [
    {
      "id": "sima-femur-xiii",
      "common_name": "Sima de los Huesos femur (nuclear-DNA-yielding specimen #1)",
      "taxonomic_assignment": "early Neanderthal lineage (Middle Pleistocene)",
      "assignment_method": "aDNA-nuclear",
      "verification_state": "pending-verification"
    },
    {
      "id": "sima-incisor",
      "common_name": "Sima de los Huesos incisor (nuclear-DNA-yielding specimen #2)",
      "taxonomic_assignment": "early Neanderthal lineage (Middle Pleistocene)",
      "assignment_method": "aDNA-nuclear",
      "verification_state": "pending-verification"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": [
    {
      "id": "4df6c5f8-c246-4b45-8dd6-4ee044533cd7",
      "specimen_id": "sima-femur-xiii",
      "method": "aDNA-nuclear",
      "dating_method": null,
      "lab": "Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig",
      "result_summary": "Nuclear DNA sequences from Sima specimens cluster with Neanderthals, not Denisovans, indicating the Neanderthal-Denisovan population divergence predates 430,000 years ago.",
      "verification_state": "draft"
    },
    {
      "id": "1ae168ac-22a9-45be-a96e-fa0a37121906",
      "specimen_id": "sima-incisor",
      "method": "aDNA-mitochondrial",
      "dating_method": null,
      "lab": "Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig",
      "result_summary": "mtDNA recovered from one Sima specimen clusters with Denisovan mtDNAs (matching the prior Meyer 2014 Sima femur result), preserving the paradox that Sima nuclear DNA is Neanderthal but mtDNA is Denisovan-like — the paper interprets this as a later mtDNA gene-pool turnover in the Neanderthal lineage.",
      "verification_state": "draft"
    }
  ]
}