ArticleScientific reports2026
Ancient DNA from the Upper Paleolithic mammoth ivory of Hohle Fels, Germany.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hohle Fels, a cave in southwestern Germany, hosts one of the richest and best-preserved Upper Paleolithic ivory assemblages, with some of the earliest examples of figurative art, musical instruments, and personal ornamentation. Despite this, its ivory had never been tested for ancient DNA (aDNA). Here, we genetically analyze 25 anthropogenic ivory fragments from Upper Paleolithic archaeological layers and demonstrate the feasibility of aDNA recovery from non-permafrost ivory. We show that cementum yields significantly more and higher-quality aDNA than dentin, making it the preferred ivory material for paleogenetic investigations. Low-coverage genome-wide data revealed a female bias, potentially reflecting either natural herd structure or biases in the procurement of ivory material. Mitochondrial DNA enrichment allowed the reconstruction of twelve complete mtDNAs, revealing that the specimens were sourced from multiple distinct mammoth lineages. Together, these results demonstrate that archaeological ivory can provide unprecedented insights into both mammoth biology and Upper Paleolithic human behavior, including hunting strategies, raw material selection, and symbolic practices of European hunter-gatherers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.