Late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in the Central Mediterranean: New archaeological and genetic data from the Late Epigravettian burial Oriente C (Favignana, Sicily)

Grotta d’Oriente, a small coastal cave located on the island of Favignana (Sicily, Italy) is a key site for the studyof the early human colonization of Sicily. The individual known as Oriente C was found in the lower portion ofan anthropogenic deposit containing typical local Late Upper Palaeolithic (Late Epigravettian) stone assemblages.Two radiocarbon dates on charcoal from the deposit containing the burial are consistent with the archaeologicalcontext and refer Oriente C to a period spanning about 14,200–13,800 cal. BP. Anatomical featuresare similar to those of Late Upper Palaeolithic populations of the Mediterranean and show some affinity withPalaeolithic individuals of San Teodoro (Messina, Sicily). Here we present new ancient DNA data from Oriente C.Our results, confirming previous genetic analysis, suggest a substantial genetic homogeneity among LateEpigravettian hunter-gatherer populations of Central Mediterranean, presumably as a consequence of continuousgene flow among different groups, or a range expansion following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).