Direct AMS radiocarbon dates of around 31 ka BP (Wild et al., 2005) for several well preserved crania and other human specimens from Mladeč, Czech Republic, confirm their association with the Aurignacian. This material, which thus represents the earliest modern European remains with archaeological associations, has long featured in discussions of regional continuity or gene flow from Neanderthal into early Cro-Magnon populations. Here, the four most complete Mladeč crania are compared with Neanderthal fossils in metrical characters of the frontofacial region. Both univariate and multivariate analyses show no evidence of Neanderthal affinities, and thus of Neanderthal-derived genes.
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Bräuer, G., Broeg, H., Stringer, C.B. (2006). Earliest Upper Paleolithic crania from Mladeč, Czech Republic, and the question of Neanderthal-modern continuity: metrical evidence from the fronto-facial region. In: Hublin, JJ., Harvati, K., Harrison, T. (eds) Neanderthals Revisited: New Approaches and Perspectives. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5121-0_15
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