Fig. 2: Timeline of hominin and faunal mtDNA presence, archaeological phases and environmental records at Denisova Cave.

a, Baikal Drilling Project 1996 composite biogenic silica record of diatom productivity in Lake Baikal, a proxy for regional annual temperature²⁸. b, c, Summary data for Main Chamber (b) and East Chamber (c). Start and end ages for layers and corresponding data are based on the common time scale in Extended Data Fig. 1. Time intervals in white represent gaps in the stratigraphic sequence, or were not sampled. Archaeological phases (early Middle Palaeolithic, middle Middle Palaeolithic, Initial Upper Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic) follow the colour scheme in Fig. 1 and Extended Data Fig. 1. Genetic data for hominins are from Fig. 1 (excluding samples M174 and M235 from Main Chamber, which are thought to be out of context), and for dominant hyaenid and ursid populations from Extended Data Fig. 10. Symbols for specific hominin mtDNA lineages (Fig. 1d) are inset in white. Environmental conditions are inferred from pollen records and skeletal remains of vertebrate fauna⁸. Relative proportions of bovid, canid, equid, hyaenid and ursid mtDNA are from Extended Data Figs. 8, 9.