@article {333774,
	title = {Investigating ancient human DNA preservation on cave walls and in rock art},
	journal = {Nature Communications},
	volume = {17},
	year = {2026},
	month = {2026/06/23},
	abstract = {<p><meta charset="UTF-8" />Previous efforts to link Palaeolithic cultural records to specific populations through DNA analysis have focused on materials from archaeological floor deposits such as bones, sediments, and artefacts. In this study, we explore whether rock art, a spatially distinct expression of human activity, can also preserve DNA traces from its creators. We analyse DNA preservation in pigment samples collected in and around 24 rock art panels from 11 caves across Spain and Portugal, including simple marks (from nine sites), hand stencils (Maltravieso Cave, Extremadura, Spain), and figurative paintings (Cave of Altamira, Cantabria, Spain). We recover traces of ancient human mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, unaccompanied by faunal DNA, from a pigmented calcite crust at Escoural Cave (Portugal), as well as from an unpigmented cave wall sample from the same site. The absence of faunal DNA in both samples suggests direct DNA deposition through human contact. In contrast, three additional unpigmented samples, from Escoural and Covar{\'o}n Cave (Asturias, Spain), yielded mixtures of human and faunal DNA, suggesting indirect deposition. Although our results do not conclusively link ancient human DNA preservation to the generation of cave art, we show that traces of human DNA can persist on cave walls for thousands of years.</p>
},
	isbn = {2041-1723},
	doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74234-2},
	url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-74234-2},
	author = {Bossoms Mesa, Alba and Essel, Elena and J{\'a}uregui, Louisa and Galtier, Aurore and Zavala, Elena I. and Nota, Kevin and Szymanski, Merlin and Zorn, Julia and Gomes, Hugo and Nash, George H. and Rosina, Pierluigi and Lattao, Virginia and Oosterbeek, Luiz and Carpetudo, Carlos and Almeida, Nelson A. and de las Heras, Carmen and Fat{\'a}s, Pilar and Prada, Alfredo and D{\'\i}az-Gonz{\'a}lez, Luc{\'\i}a M. and S{\'a}nchez-Moral, M. Elena and Mart{\'\i}nez Villa, Alberto and Men{\'e}ndez Fern{\'a}ndez, Mario and Garc{\'\i}a Arranz, Jos{\'e} Julio and von Petzinger, Genevieve and Cantalejo, Pedro and Fern{\'a}ndez, Luis-Efr{\'e}n and Ramos-Mu{\~n}oz, Jos{\'e} and Fern{\'a}ndez S{\'a}nchez, Diego S. and Mira, Hugo A. and Mu{\~n}oz Fern{\'a}ndez, Emilio and Montes-Barqu{\'\i}n, Ram{\'o}n and Onta{\~n}{\'o}n, Roberto and Kelso, Janet and Pr{\"u}fer, Kay and Vernot, Benjamin and Hajdinjak, Mateja and Shao, Qingfeng and Garc{\^e}s, Sara and Collado Giraldo, Hip{\'o}lito and Meyer, Matthias}
}
