Scientists have sequenced and analyzed the genomes of seven individuals who lived between 42,000 and 49,000 years ago in Ranis, Germany and Zlatý kůň, the Czech Republic.

The results show that distant familial relationships link the Ranis and Zlatý kůň individuals and that they were part of the same small, isolated population that represents the deepest known split from the out-of-Africa lineage; Ranis genomes harbor Neanderthal segments that originate from a single admixture event shared with all non-Africans that the authors date to 45,000-49,000 years ago; this implies that ancestors of all non-Africans sequenced to-date resided in a common population at this time, and further suggests that modern human remains older than 50,000 years from outside Africa represent different non-African populations.